Testimony Of David Wolfe, Creative Director The

Transcription

Testimony of David Wolfe, Creative Director
The Doneger Group
Before the
U.S. House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual
Property
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary
Legislative Hearing On H.R. 5055:
“To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide protection for
fashion design”
Washington, DC
July 27, 2006
Testimony of David Wolfe
Creative Director, The Doneger Group
Before the
U.S. House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property
Legislative Hearing On
H.R. 5055: “To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide protection for
fashion design.”
July 27, 2006
Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Berman, members of the subcommittee, my name is
David Wolfe. I am Creative Director for Doneger Creative Services, the Doneger Group’s trend
and color forecasting and analysis department. In my role as Creative Director, I analyze men’s,
women’s and youth apparel and accessories markets as well as big-picture developments in style,
culture and society. I want to thank the subcommittee for inviting me to testify on the proposed
copyright for fashion design.*
Over the past century, the fashion industry in America has thrived because of, and not in
spite of, a lack of copyright protection for fashion designs. The fashion industry is a well
balanced system which succeeds by smoothly, quickly and profitably integrating a complicated
blend of original ideas, individual creativity and copying. Fashion designers draw on a wide
array of influences from society, history and one another, making it virtually impossible to
determine the originality of a given design. Copyright for fashion design is antithetical to this
process. For these reasons, H.R. 5055, or any other legislation that provides copyright protection
to fashion design, could not be enforced fairly, would create litigation that would slow the pace
of the industry and would increase costs for the industry, retailers and consumers.
Attached to my testimony is a copy of the book, Ready to Share: Fashion & the
Ownership of Creativity, which contains essays examining the relationship between creativity
and intellectual property law in fashion. The book is a product of a conference sponsored by the
Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of
Communication and attended by fashion designers, fashion analysts, journalists, and academics.
The Lack of Originality in Fashion Makes Copyright Protection a Poor Fit
Copyright law in this country is premised on protecting originality, but finding and
defining originality in fashion is an extremely difficult if not impossible task. Fashion trends
today follow our shifting society; they are not invented on a runway. The runway reflects what
is happening in our world. Economics, politics, weather, media, celebrities, demographics, sex
and science all influence trends. All designers feed off of this same information and inspiration,
and hopefully interpret it in their own unique way.
*
I would like thank Public Knowledge intern Sarah Zenewicz for helping me with this testimony.
1
For example, movies are highly influential to the fashion industry. Faye Dunaway’s
costumes in Bonnie and Clyde influenced American women to wear longer “midi” skirts after the
miniskirt trends of the 1960’s. Kimono-inspired clothing began appearing on runways after the
release of Memoirs of a Geisha. The New York Times recently published a story discussing the
influence the television series Miami Vice had on fashion: “The extent to which the show played
a part in the sartorial recasting of the American man is difficult to overestimate.”
Originality in fashion design is questionable when designers are explicitly influenced by
so many sources. There was little originality in the “midi” skirts that became popular in the
1970’s because those designers were inspired by the costumes in Bonnie and Clyde, which were
in turn inspired by the fashion of the 1920’s. If a designer today can be influenced by Miami
Vice and produce a pastel suit reminiscent of Don Johnson’s 1980’s attire, much like kimonoinspired fashion became ubiquitous on the runways after Memoirs of a Geisha, then it should be
readily apparent that assigning originality in fashion is a great challenge.
Because it is so difficult to determine what is “original” about a particular fashion design,
it would be equally difficult to enforce a copyright fairly. For example, bestowing copyright to a
designer for the “little black dress,” ubiquitous in the wardrobe of every woman who attends
cocktail parties or concerts, would be unfair because there is no originality in a design for the
little black dress. Designer Coco Chanel is credited with introducing the dress in 1926 as a
symbol of urban sophistication, and every designer for the past eighty years has copied,
reinterpreted, and reintroduced the dress.
The Fashion Industry Has Thrived and Continues to Thrive in the Absence of
Copyright
Fashion has always operated without copyright protection in the United States. The
absence of copyright in fashion frees designers to incorporate popular and reemerging styles into
their own lines without restricting themselves for fear of infringement, thus facilitating the
growth of new trends. The fashion industry benefits from the constant creation of new trends
because new trends are what induce consumers to continually buy. The result is an industry that
in 2005 had revenues of $19.5 billion.
Fashion designers influence each other and appropriate each others’ designs into their
own lines. Chanel created her influential Chanel Jacket that fashion designers at all levels have
copied and redesigned from its release in 1916 until today. Chanel’s influence for the jacket
came from men’s jacket designs of the time. The influence of Chanel’s jacket can be seen in
designs for the past 90 years from Karl Lagerfeld, Adolfo, St. John, BCBG and H&M. Designs
are copied, and they morph and change over time, and so-called “original” ideas often originate
in the designs of others.
Designs and ideas that become popular in fashion do not always come from the design
studios of haute couture (high fashion for a wealthy clientele), but trends can also work from the
bottom up. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg once said, “Everything in fashion begins in
the street.” While this is something of an overstatement, it does illustrate the point that fashion
2
appropriates from all levels of the design world. Designer Mary Quant is credited with being the
inventor of the miniskirt, yet Quant denies being the inventor. She says she looked out her
window in Chelsea, saw what was happening on the streets, and picked up on what was in the
air. Copying in fashion design is about incorporating influences from all around, and it is not
just about creating a $200 knock-off of a $2,000 dress.
Copying and appropriation creates trends that are beneficial to designers, retailers and
consumers. A designer who introduces or reintroduces an idea benefits by inducing more
consumers to buy as the trend spreads. The designers who copy, appropriate and reinterpret
benefit because they can take an idea, make it their own and create competition in the fashion
marketplace. Consumers benefit because they have more choices. A consumer may not like an
original design, but may be inclined to purchase a reinterpretation. Fashion thrives when trends
can spread from haute couture to sales racks and everything in between because consumers have
more choices. Consumers with more choices are more likely to find clothing that fits their tastes
or price range, and designers and retailers are more likely to profit.
H.R. 5055 Would Be Detrimental to the Fashion Industry, Retailers and Consumers
H.R. 5055 would provide fashion designers a three year monopoly over a fashion design
and any design “substantially similar” to it. Copyright protection for fashion designs would harm
the thriving fashion industry, retailers and consumers. Specifically, I urge you to oppose H.R.
5055 for the following reasons:

Copyright protection would cause delays because it would create litigation,
injunctions and licensing. Delays would stunt the development of trends, and
ultimately the fashion industry, as disputes would outlast the attention span of the
fashion market.

Determining originality in fashion design is virtually impossible, and thus it
would be virtually impossible for judges to effectively and fairly enforce the law.

The legislation would ultimately decrease the amount of choices available to
consumers, and would dramatically increase costs for the fashion industry and
retailers.
Delays from litigation, injunctions and licensing would stunt the fashion industry
Copyright protection would slow the rapid pace of the fashion industry, which is what
makes it profitable. As a result the industry for the first time would be subject to the risk of
infringement litigation. Fashion designers would be held up with the time and expense of
depositions, injunctions, trials and the negotiations. H.R. 5055 would create a morass of
litigation that will hinder rather than encourage creativity in fashion design. Rather than
efficiently creating new fashion designs for the market, designers will be trapped in the perpetual
chaos of trying to defend the copyright on existing designs while planning and producing designs
for the future. The lifespan of a legal dispute is longer than the attention span of the fashion
3
industry. By the time a design is determined to be or not be infringing, the marketplace will have
moved on and new trends will have emerged.
This subcommittee knows well that the content and technology industries are constantly
at odds on issues of infringement, secondary liability, injunctions, and negotiations of licensing
terms. These issues will exponentially complicate business arrangements between designers and
retailers and increase the time necessary to produce new clothing lines and develop trends. With
a copyright in place, many trends that would have developed in the marketplace as it exists today
will never develop, which in turn will remove the incentive for consumers to make purchases.
A fashion copyright would be virtually impossible to enforce fairly because of the lack of
originality in fashion.
As I discuss on page 2, a fashion copyright that grants monopoly to a design and any
design that is “substantially similar” could not be enforced fairly or efficiently because
determining the originality of a design is nearly impossible. Designs that may seem “original”
during a current fashion cycle may be a slight reinterpretation of a previous design. Because
fashion relies on appropriation and merely modifying existing ideas, it would be impracticable
for the government to confer fashion designers a copyright monopoly on a design.
Because defining and determining originality is difficult enough for those who work in
and study the fashion industry; it would be just as difficult for a court. If a court cannot
determine the originality of a design, then how could it fairly determine whether one design
infringes upon another or whether a design is substantially similar or whether a design is
sufficiently original to qualify for copyright protection? Would a court be forced to measure the
width of the lapels on a tuxedo jacket, the width of spaghetti straps on a cocktail dress, the
similarity of pastels of a suit? Or the originality in the length of a skirt, the cut of a men’s
button-down dress shirt, or in the number of straps on a pair of gladiator-style sandals?
A fashion copyright would increase costs for designers and retailers and would decrease
choices for consumers.
A copyright would give designers unprecedented monopolies over fashion designs and
any reinterpretations thereof, which would complicate the business of fashion even more.
Negotiating licensing, the risks—and reality—of litigation and constant internal debates over
infringement and originality would create a higher cost of doing business for designers.
Designers would become more cautious and conservative in their designs for fear of creating a
design that infringes on another. Ultimately, they would have to account for the costs of
licensing and the risk of infringement litigation in their pricing, and pass these costs on to
consumers. The end result for consumers will be fewer choices, higher prices or both.
It is important to note that fashion design is not entirely without intellectual property
protection. Indeed, patent and trademark law offer limited protection for fashion designs. Design
patents protect the ornamental features of an invention that can be separated from the functional
aspects. Few fashion designs meet the qualifications for a design patent, but some areas of the
fashion industry, such as athletic shoes, have been able to take advantage of the protection.
4
Trademarks are the symbols that identify the origins of a product, and are an important way for
designers to distinguish their brands from others. Fashion designers can use trademark law to
protect their brand and distinguish their goods from knock-offs and limit consumer confusion.
For example, while a designer may be able to copy Gucci, Prada or Louis Vuitton hand-bags,
that designer may not use the Gucci, Prada, or Louis Vuitton trademarks on his own versions.
Conclusion
Chanel once said, “Fashion should slip out of your hands. The very idea of protecting the
seasonal arts is childish.” While she died over thirty years ago, this is no less true today.
Extending copyright protections to an industry that thrives on a rapidly changing marketplace,
where originality is difficult to determine and designers are constantly influenced by each other
and the world would cause more harm than good. Fashion is ephemeral and must move faster
than the hindrances that would accompany copyright: time and resources necessary to negotiate
licensing deals, to determine the substantial similarity of two garments or to assess the overall
originality of a design. The fashion industry has thrived in the absence of copyright as a well
balanced system of appropriation, copying and originality. It will continue to do so only if we
maintain the current system.
Thank you. I look forward to your questions.
5
READYTOSHAREREAD
YTOSHAREREADYTOS
HAREREADYTOSHAR
EREADYTOSHAREREA
DYTOSHAREREADYTO
SHAREREADYTOSHAR
EREADYTOSHAREREA
SEE INSIDE BACK COVER FOR DVD
“lesser artists borrow. great artists steal.”
—Igor Stravinsky
“good artists copy. great artists steal.”
—Pablo Picasso
R
E A DY TO S H A R E :
fashion & the ownership of creativity
EDIT ED
BY
david bollier and laurie racine
ISBN: 0-9714018-5-3
SEE INSIDE BACK COVER FOR DVD
section of book, title of essay
R
T HE
NORMAN LEAR CENTER PRESS
annenberg school for communication
university of southern california
R
EDIT ED
BY
david bollier and laurie racine
s e c t i o n o f b oTa
o kb,l et i tolfe Coofnet sesnat ys
page 4 | Ready to Share: Fashion & the Ownership of Creativity
©2006 University of Southern California, Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication
The book and accompanying DVD, both titled “Ready to Share: Fashion & the Ownership of Creativity” (the
“Works”), are being distributed pursuant to these terms by the University of Southern California on behalf
of its Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication (“USC”). Those copyright rights
in the Works, which are owned by USC, are licensed to the public under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. You are free to copy, distribute, display and perform those rights
owned by USC in the Works or to make derivative works thereof under the conditions specified in this Creative
Commons license, excluding rights owned by others, such as images or words of Tom Ford; images of Millicent
Rogers; images of L.A. Models; and artwork by Stephen Reaves To view a copy of this license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5. In addition, it is understood that other parties may have rights
in the Works including the privacy and/or publicity rights of individuals appearing in images. You are solely
responsible for obtaining any additional rights not granted in this license to the extent that you wish to make,
sell or distribute copies or derivative works of the Works.
table of contents
Participating Organizations
6
Introduction
8
David Bollier and Laurie Racine
Printed in the United States of America.
ESSAYS
The Norman Lear Center
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281, USA
enter@usc.edu
www.learcenter.org
Between the Cracks, a Fertile Commons:
An Overview of the Relationship Between Fashion
and Intellectual Property
16
Christine Cox and Jennifer Jenkins
Author Biographies
25
Copies of this book and DVD are available from the Norman Lear Center:
Tel: 213.821.1343
Fax: 213.821.1580
Email: enter@usc.edu.
Ready to Share:
Creativity in Fashion and Digital Culture
28
First Edition 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Author Biographies
44
Publisher’s Publication Data
Ready to Share: Fashion & the Ownership of Creativity
ISBN: 0-9714018-5-3
Music & Fashion:
The Balancing Act Between Creativity and Control
46
David Bollier and Laurie Racine
Marissa Gluck and Aram Sinnreich
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005937876
1. Fashion. 2. Intellectual property. 3. Creativity 4. Music.
5. Internet. I. Bollier, David. II. Racine, Laurie.
Author Biographies
Book design
Warren Group | Studio Deluxe
www.studiodeluxe.com
Overview
72
66
EVENT
Highlights & Photos
76
Artwork
Stephen Reaves
Participant Biographies
78
Photos
Cherie Steinberg Cote
RESOURCES
Photo of Millicent Rogers
Courtesy of the Millicent Rogers Museum
Models: Kerry Dyer, Amie Peterson, Robin Queen, Michelle Skinner, Renata Zajec
Courtesy of L.A. Models
Annotated Bibliography
88
Patrick Reed
Author Biography
101
Index
102
page 5
Par ticipating Organizations
participating organizations
the usc annenberg norman lear center
The Norman Lear Center is a multidisciplinary research and public policy center exploring implications
of the convergence of entertainment, commerce and society. On campus, from its base in the USC
Annenberg School for Communication, the Lear Center builds bridges between schools and disciplines
whose faculty study aspects of entertainment, media and culture. Beyond campus, it bridges the
gap between the entertainment industry and academia, and between them and the public. Through
scholarship and research; through its fellows, conferences, public events and publications; and in its
attempts to illuminate and repair the world, the Lear Center works to be at the forefront of discussion
and practice in the field. For more information, visit www.learcenter.org.
creativity, commerce & culture
When art is created for commercial purposes, who owns it? Once it’s in the hands of consumers,
what rights do they have to change it? Headed by Lear Center senior fellows David Bollier and Laurie
Racine, the Creativity, Commerce & Culture project explores the new digital environment and the
impact of intellectual property rights on innovation and creativity. The project is funded in part by
a generous gift from the Center for the Public Domain, a non-profit foundation that supports the
growth of a healthy and robust public domain by establishing programs, grants and partnerships in
the areas of academic research, medicine, law, education, media, technology and the arts.
the fashion institute of design & merchandising/fidm
Inspired by 1950s’
fashion, a whiteon-black silk gazar
dress by Kevan Hall
brings the past into
the present.
The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM is an internationally recognized college
that prepares students for leadership in the global industries of Fashion, Visual Arts, Interior Design
and Entertainment. As an accredited institution granting Associate of Arts degrees and providing
Advanced Study programs in 14 industry-specific majors, FIDM has equipped more than 30,000
students over the last 30 years to become skilled professionals. FIDM is headquartered in a state-ofthe-art campus in downtown Los Angeles, with additional campuses in Orange County, San Diego
and San Francisco. The FIDM Museum houses one of the nation’s finest costume collections dating
from the 18 th century, as well as ethnic costumes and selections from top fashion designers. For more
information, visit www.fidm.edu. w
page 7
Introduction
introduction
BY DAVID BOLLIER AND
L AURIE RACINE
This book is an exploration into creativity — how it originates in our society, the means by
which it circulates from one person to another, and the role that intellectual property law
plays in encouraging or impeding the flow of creativity. One of the most instructive arenas
for studying these themes, we discovered, is the fashion industry.
Fashion has the virtue of being ubiquitous, with a creative
narrative that is familiar and easy to comprehend. It is at
once personal, visual, historical, evolving and completely
inescapable. Fashion offers us a compelling story arc for
understanding how creativity works from its inception,
as an inspired idea, through the creative process and into
the marketplace.
Kevan Hall talks about
the influence of his
muse, Millicent Rogers,
on his designs.
To document and explore this journey, the Norman Lear
Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication
held a conference titled “Ready to Share: Fashion & the
Ownership of Creativity“ in January 2005. We brought
together top fashion designers, industry analysts, retailers,
attorneys, copyright scholars, songwriters, musicians,
high-tech experts and others to talk about the complicated
ecology of creativity in fashion. The hypothesis was that
the tradition of open appropriation and transformation in
fashion contributes significantly to that industry’s creative
vitality and economic success.
Fashion seems to draw its life’s breath from a creative and
cultural commons — a shared pool of artistic design and
cultural references that is constantly changing and churning
in all sorts of novel, unpredictable ways. In this sense,
fashion resembles the creative genres of the Internet — or
more precisely, those genres resemble fashion, which in its
modern form has been around for decades.
To venture onto the World Wide Web is to enter a zone
of recombinant creativity, a place where the differences
between originality and imitation are often difficult to
discern. There are many brilliant individuals, to be sure,
each of whom adds original verve to writing, music and
visual works. But what may most distinguish the online
world is how the collective origins of new ideas are more
readily apparent. A creative fragment from one Web site
often is added to another, and mixed with a third — much
as mash-up artists like Danger Mouse have combined the
music of Jay-Z and The Beatles with improbable success.
Bricolage is the order of the day.
In fact, the French term bricolage lies at the heart of the
matter. Bricolage refers to the recombinant process in which
everything gets mixed and morphed, and incongruous
elements are synthesized into something new. The term
seems to describe perfectly the creative processes of fashion,
where most everything that ever has been designed is considered fair game for new creations. The intellectual property
restrictions on bricolage in fashion are nearly nonexistent.
page 9
Introduction
How can an industry built upon open borrowing and
re-use of other people’s work thrive financially?
Unlike the online culture, however, modern fashion has
been practicing its brand of bricolage for decades. The
means by which vintage clothing is plundered for new ideas
are fairly well-established. We can examine the diversified
market ecology that popularizes haute couture at lower
price points and, simultaneously, elevates open “street
fashion” into high-priced designer styles. Fashion gives us a
window into the tension between the open commons and
the proprietary market. It helps us understand both the
contradictions and the synergies between the two, and how
each is indispensable to the other. Looking at creativity in
fashion gives us a richer, more complex appreciation for the
meaning of “originality” and the importance of imitation in
all creative endeavors.
This naturally led us to wonder — how can an industry built
upon open borrowing and re-use of other people’s work
thrive financially? Doesn’t this contradict one of the core
premises of the traditional narrative for intellectual property
— that strict property rights are critical in order to reward
creators for coming up with new works and selling them in
the marketplace?
We conclude that a complex matrix of factors affects
creativity and economic sustainability in fashion. Intellectual
property rights, including copyright and trademark protection, are certainly important in spurring creativity. But many
social, technological and historical elements also affect how
creativity unfolds and circulates. One of the most important
questions, as the title of our conference suggests, is whether
creative design is “ready to share.” The history of fashion
suggests that it is. Fashion designers routinely appropriate
and transform prior works, generating innovations that
reflect both their individual talents and different times
and contexts.
The first essay in this volume, “Between the Cracks, a Fertile
Commons: An Overview of the Relationship Between
Fashion and Intellectual Property,” by intellectual property
attorney Christine Cox and Duke Law professor Jennifer
Jenkins, offers an overview of the relationship between
fashion and intellectual property. Drawing upon fashion
history and congressional statutes, this article is a primer
in the legal treatment of creativity in fashion. The authors
explain why fashion design generally is not protectable
under copyright law, design patent, trademark or trade
dress law.
A second essay, “Ready to Share: Creativity in Fashion &
Digital Culture,” by David Bollier and Laurie Racine, senior
fellows at the Norman Lear Center, builds on the first piece
by looking at the social and intergenerational dynamics of
creativity in fashion, and how shared traditions and designs
play an indispensable role in driving new creativity.
The authors wonder why the “borrowing” that is considered
standard practice in fashion should be denounced as “theft”
when it occurs in music or film. How is it that sampling the
designs of someone else’s garment can be lauded as genius
in fashion, but condemned as piracy in other creative fields?
Much of the answer seems to lie in the willingness of fashion
companies to acknowledge the larger ecology of innovation — a frame of analysis that traditional copyright law
omits. Intellectual property law tends to ignore the fact that
creativity in real life must germinate within communities of
practice and creative traditions — and that privatizing those
communities and traditions only diminishes the feedstock
of future creativity. Rare among creative sectors, fashion
frankly acknowledges that there is little that is wholly
original or unprecedented. Timing and context are at least
as important as the originality that a designer contributes.
1. Norman Lear and
Michael Patrick King
discuss the impact of
intellectual property
restrictions on specific
creative decisions in
their TV shows.
2. FIDM’s Barbara
Bundy highlights
the energy of the
conference.
In the final essay, “Music & Fashion: The Balancing Act
Between Creativity and Control,” Aram Sinnreich and
Marissa Gluck, two former research analysts for Jupiter
Research, explore the fascinating parallels and differences
between creativity in music and fashion. The culture of
fashion is far more accepting of appropriation and imitation
than the music industry, which relies upon strict copyright
protection and fierce litigation to prevent the smallest forms
of unauthorized copying.
Since we believe the topic of creativity and ownership in
the fashion industry deserves greater scrutiny, this volume
includes an annotated bibliography prepared by Norman
Lear Center researcher Patrick Reed. The wealth of articles
and books listed in this far-ranging bibliography features
some of the leading works in this emerging arena. The
bibliography also includes works about the relationship
of fashion to the entertainment industry.
Some of the most exciting insights about fashion and
creativity emerged from the “Ready to Share” conference
itself, which was funded in part by a generous gift from the
Center for the Public Domain and sponsored by The Fashion
Institute for Design & Merchandising/FIDM. Included with
this book is a stand-alone DVD. The video incorporates highlights of the conference — including comments by producer
Norman Lear, designer Tom Ford, New York Times reporter
Guy Trebay, Sex and the City creator Michael Patrick King
and recording artist Danger Mouse — with a walking tour of
New York fashion. Hosted by journalist Rick Karr with special
guest, David Wolfe, Creative Director of the Doneger Group,
we interweave an on-the-ground look at fashion with the
“Ready to Share” conference themes.
David Wolfe, one of the industry’s foremost trend forecasters, exposed fashion as a kind of “fragile ecosystem” of
styles and motifs, tracing some of the significant historical
shifts in fashion design and markets over the past 75 years.
Tom Ford’s illuminating conversation with New York Times
reporter Guy Trebay centered on whether fashion is derivative at its core or an original art form. Using examples from
various designers, Ford and Trebay talked about the necessity of personal interpretations, and brand identity and its
page 11
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street,
fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
— Coco Chanel
coexistence with pervasion appropriation and sharing.
A panel on the ownership of music applied the themes of
“ready to share” to musical creativity and sampling.
Moderated by Jonathan Taplin, the panel featured mash-up
artist Danger Mouse, musician and producer T Bone Burnett,
The Roots’ producer Richard Nichols, singer-songwriter Sam
Phillips and archivist Rani Singh. The group discussed how
digital technologies have radically changed the distribution
of music, giving artists the potential for much greater control over their business affairs and greater ability to reap
economic gains directly.
Los Angeles designer Kevan Hall presented his Spring 2005
collection as part of a dialogue with Kevin Jones, curator of
The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum,
about the direct influence of previous designers and even
other arts, such as watercolors paintings and photographs,
on his contemporary designs. Hall explained how his collection paid homage to the grand style and simple design sense
of heiress Millicent Rogers of the 1930s and to the handtinted photographs of artist Cecil Beaton.
Television writer-producer Norman Lear delved into the
nature of creative risk-taking with Michael Patrick King,
executive producer of Sex and the City. Each worked in a
different decade and with different networks — Lear for
CBS in the 1970s, King for HBO in the 1990s — but each
recounted episodes in which intellectual property restrictions threatened to derail their creative plans. King also
spoke about the special challenges of writing a show in
which fashion itself served as a kind of “character” in addition to the four female leads.
It is impossible to sum up a field of inquiry that is still
unfolding and fraught with open questions and speculative
answers. Still, several important insights emerged from the
“Ready to Share” conference and the commissioned essays.
First, it is clear that creativity critically depends upon its
social context and the collective legacy of prior works.
Access to previous creativity is as important as control over
any commercial product. What matters most is striking a
careful balance between access and control, so that excessive restriction — especially through intellectual property
law and technology — does not choke off future creativity.
A second insight is that thriving markets of creative products
require an open commons of “raw material” — old works,
unowned words and images, freely accessible characters,
plots and themes — to assure fresh and robust creativity.
Again, balance is key. Creators must have the means to earn
money for their work, but an overdeveloped marketplace
that encloses the commons is likely to undermine the quality
and vigor of its creativity over time.
Finally, our explorations of creativity in fashion suggest
that we may have to modify our ideas about individual
originality. Many social, community and intergenerational
Which one is the
real Chanel jacket?
“Knocking off”
a classic design is
common in the
fashion world.
factors play vital roles in the creative process. These must be
acknowledged. Moreover, the grand narratives of law that
purport to describe how creative works emerge and circulate
must take account of these factors. The law must recognize
that both artistic and economic success depend upon access
to an open, nonproprietary universe of unowned material.
Although the tradition of “ready to share” is more evident
in the fashion world, its dynamics can be seen in nearly any
field whose creativity occurs in a collective, social context.
The progress of science, for example, has always depended
on the ability of researchers to build upon the prior work
of others. Innovators in music and film always have drawn
freely from the styles of prior artists and traditions. By
focusing on a fact that intellectual property law largely
discounts — that appropriation, sharing and transformation
are critical elements in the eternal dance of creativity — the
“ready to share” paradigm offers some provocative new
ways to understand how creativity and markets alike can
remain fresh and robust. For this reason alone, the deeper
character of the “ready to share” model deserves much
greater investigation and discussion in the years ahead. w
page 13
F
E ssays
A
page 15
Essays: Bet ween the Seams, a Fer tile Commons
between the seams, a fertile commons:
an overview of the relationship between fashion and intellectual propert y
BY CHRISTINE COX
AND JENNIFER JENKINS
“Imagine for a moment that some upstart revolutionary proposed that we eliminate all intellectual property protection for fashion design. No longer could a designer secure federal copyright
protection for the cut of a dress or the sleeve of a blouse. Unscrupulous mass-marketers could
run off thousands of knock-off copies of any designer’s evening ensemble, and flood the marketplace with cheap imitations of haute couture. In the short run, perhaps, clothing prices would
come down as legitimate designers tried to meet the prices of their free-riding competitors. In
the long run, though, as we know all too well, the diminution in the incentives for designing new
fashions would take its toll. Designers would still wish to design, at least initially, but clothing
manufacturers with no exclusive rights to rely on would be reluctant to make the investment
involved in manufacturing those designs and distributing them to the public. The dynamic
America fashion industry would wither, and its most talented designers would forsake clothing
design for some more remunerative calling like litigation. All of us would be forced either to wear
last year’s garments year in and year out, or to import our clothing from abroad.
Of course, we don’t give copyright protection to fashions … We never have.”
— Jessica Litman, Digital Copyright 1
introduction
The original and its interpretation are revealed in
“Chanel or Fauxnel,” a live fashion presentation at
the “Ready to Share” event.
Each month, Marie Claire magazine presents a feature
devoted to fashion knockoffs called “Splurge vs. Steal.”
A $195 Lilly Pulitzer halter top is compared with a $15.00
version by Newport News.2 $175 Theory shorts are juxtaposed with a $39.50 look-alike from the Gap.3 Though the
designer version usually looks more tasteful or well-made,
many shoppers are quite happy to obtain “the look” while
saving several hundred dollars. Newport News and the Gap
can adapt the more expensive designs, and consumers can
“dress for less,” because clothing designs generally are not
protectable under current United States intellectual property regimes.
We often are told that intellectual property protection is necessary to stimulate creativity and innovation. It
provides incentives by allowing creators to control access to
their works and demand payment for them. Without these
incentives — the argument goes — people will be unable to
profit from their works and will stop creating. Yet, despite
the lack of intellectual property protection for fashion, style
houses continue to make money, and designers continue to
page 17
Fashion designs, particularly for clothing, fall
between the seams of traditional intellectual
property protections.
develop new looks every season. Creativity thrives in the absence of
intellectual property protection.
What can we learn from this seeming paradox? This paper will
examine the reasons why fashion design generally is not protectable
under existing intellectual property regimes, and consider how the
fashion experience might inform ongoing debates about desirable
levels of intellectual property protection in other creative industries.
why not fashion?
The classic shirtdress,
revisited.
In recent years, the scope of U.S. intellectual property protection
has expanded greatly in a variety of fields. Patents now are granted
over plant varieties and common business methods, areas for which
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office previously had been hesitant
to issue protection. Copyright terms have been extended to a
staggering length of time — life plus 70 years — far longer than
the 14-year term originally contemplated by the drafters of the
Constitution. Powerful industry lobbies continue to push for ever
stronger intellectual property protections.
Despite these recent expansions that have benefited, among
others, the biotech, pharmaceutical, movie and recording industries,
the fashion industry receives little protection under current U.S.
intellectual property laws. This is not to say that certain fashion
houses have not tried to obtain intellectual property protections
for their designs, for valiant efforts have been made in this regard.
While these efforts have succeeded in protecting limited design
elements, however, fashion design as a whole receives little to no
protection. Knockoff goods are a huge part of the fashion industry
and are accepted as common practice. With a system that tries its
best to forbid sampling and remixing at every turn, how can such an
extensive and fertile commons be allowed to exist?
Fashion designs, particularly for clothing, fall between
the seams of traditional intellectual property protections. 4
Copyrights generally are not granted to apparel because
articles of clothing, which are both creative and functional,
are considered “useful articles” as opposed to works of art.
Design patents are intended to protect ornamental designs,
but clothing rarely meets the demanding criteria of patentability, namely novelty and nonobviousness. Trademarks
only protect brand names and logos, not the clothing itself,
and the Supreme Court has refused to extend trade dress
protection to apparel designs. Congress repeatedly has
declined to enact legislation that would provide sui generis
design protection.
Fashion designs are not unprotected merely because they
fall into a legal limbo between intellectual property schemes,
however. Both policymakers and courts have been guided
by compelling policy reasons to limit design protection.5
They have expressed concerns that, while such protection
might benefit certain designers, it could create monopolies
in the fashion industry that would stifle the creativity of
future designers, hinder competition and drive up prices for
consumer goods. Designers could demand payment for design
elements that currently are free, and this cost would be borne
by others in the industry and by the public. The less affluent
would not be able to afford the range of fashions they
currently enjoy.6 Therefore, policy advisors have been unconvinced that “new protection will provide substantial benefits
to the general public which outweigh removing such designs
from free public use.”7 As one judge put it, “Congress and the
Supreme Court have answered in favor of commerce and the
masses rather than the artists, designers and the well-to-do.”8
copyright
Copyright law is used to protect artistic creations, including
music, films, paintings, photographs, sculptures and books.9
While U.S. copyright law protects “applied art,” such as
artistic jewelry, patterns on dinnerware or tapestries, it does
not protect “useful articles,” such as automobiles or television sets that, while attractively shaped, are primarily functional. 10 Apparel designers have tried to obtain copyright
protection for their designs by suggesting that clothing is a
type of sculptural work. However, copyright law generally
has not provided protection for wearable designs because
clothing is considered a useful article that (among other
things) protects its wearer from the elements, provides
modesty and decorates the body.
While copyright law normally does not protect useful
articles, it does protect aesthetic elements of a useful
article if those features amount to works of art “that can
be identified separately from, and are capable of existing
independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article.”11
This “separability” rule was developed in the landmark 1954
case of Mazer v. Stein,12 in which the Supreme Court held
that Balinese statuettes that formed the bases of lamps
were copyrightable because the aesthetic work in question
(a statuette) was separable from the useful article (a lamp).
The statuettes could be copyrighted as independent works
of art even though they also could be used as lamp bases. 13
While lamps with statuette bases offer a relatively easy
example of separability, it is much more difficult to separate
aesthetic elements of most fashion designs, particularly
clothing designs, from their function. An unusual neckline, flared sleeve or cinched waist — while attractive and
page 19
Design patents are an extension of patent
law that protects the ornamental features
of an invention.
creative — serve the utilitarian function of dressing the human
form, and are not likely to be considered separable and independent
works of art.
Accordingly, both Congress and the courts have said that
clothing design is not subject to copyright protection. The legislative
history to the Copyright Act explicitly stated that copyright protection would not be extended to “ladies’ dress” unless it had some
element that was physically or conceptually distinguishable from its
form. 14 And courts have “long held that clothes, as useful articles,
are not copyrightable.”15
There have been a few unusual cases involving fashion designs
in which courts have found aesthetic form separable from function.
One such case, Kieselstein-Cord v. Accessories by Pearl, involved the
design of high-end belt buckles. 16 Registered with the Copyright
Office as “original sculpture and design,” the Kieselstein-Cord
belt buckles widely were recognized as innovative jewelry designs
and even made their way into the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
permanent collection. 17 Knockoffs of the belt buckle designs subsequently were created in common metals by Accessories by Pearl, and
Kieselstein-Cord sued for copyright infringement. 18
The district court found that the belt buckles did not meet the
separability standard required for protection because the artistic
features were not separable readily from the utilitarian buckle. 19
The Second Circuit reversed the decision, noting that the separability standard does not require “physical” separability but also
may include “conceptual” separability. 20 The notion of conceptual
separability (which was introduced in the legislative history to the
current Copyright Act), allowed the Kieselstein-Cord court to discern
between the aesthetic design of the belt buckles and their utilitarian
function. The court concluded that the separable aesthetic elements
should be copyrighted:
We see in appellant’s belt buckles conceptually separable
sculptural elements, as apparently have the buckles’ wearers
who have used them as ornamentation for parts of the body
other than the waist … Pieces of applied art, these buckles may
be considered jewelry, the form of which is subject to copyright
protection. 21
However, the Second Circuit retreated from its expansive
reading of conceptual separability a few years later in Carol Barnhart
v. Economy Cover Corp., in which the court held that mannequins
used to display clothing were merely useful articles and did
not have aesthetic elements that were conceptually separable from their utilitarian functions. 22
In rare cases, an apparel design may be copyrightable as
a separable work of art when it hardly functions as clothing
at all. For example, one court found that a clear plastic
swimsuit filled with crushed rock and displayed as part of a
modern art exhibit could be copyrightable as soft sculpture:
Nothing in our legal training qualifies us to determine
as a matter of law whether [the swimsuit] can be worn
as an article of clothing for swimming or any other utilitarian purpose. We are also unable to determine merely
by looking at [the swimsuit] whether a person wearing
this object can move, walk, swim, sit, stand, or lie down
without unwelcome or unintended exposure. 23
As one commentator observed, “given that the object
was filled with crushed rock, one wonders if it might
have been more ‘useful’ as an anchor than a swimsuit.”24
Another court upheld copyrights in certain costumes that
were unsuitable as clothing — these included a “Rabbit In
Hat” costume that “does not readily permit the wearer to
sit, recline, or maneuver easily” and a “Tigress” costume
that “cannot be worn without a separate body covering
underneath as it is too narrow to cover a woman’s chest and
contains no sides or bottom.”25 But in almost all other cases,
clothing falls outside of the bounds of copyright protection.
Although clothing designs themselves are not copyrightable, designs on the surface of clothing, which are
capable of being independent works of art (such as paintings or drawings), have been extended copyright protection. 26 Fabric designs, patterns for knit sweaters, designs
printed on dresses and lace designs on wedding gowns have
been held to constitute copyrightable subject matter. 27
When granted, copyrights for these works are often “thin,”
offering protection only from designs that are confusingly
similar to the original. 28
On the whole, then, copyright law affords little protection for clothing designs. Aside from protection for surface
designs and a few exceptions that have been recognized
by the case law, the design of clothing itself generally is
considered ineligible for copyright protection because it is
extremely difficult to separate the artistic from the functional elements. 29 As a result, some fashion designers have
turned to other intellectual property regimes, such as design
patents, to try to secure protection for their designs.
design patents
Patent law provides protection for new and useful processes,
machines, products and compositions of matter through
utility patents.30 Design patents are an extension of patent
law that protects the ornamental features of an invention. In
the most current version of the patent statute, design patents
are governed by 35 U.S.C. § 171, which states: “[W]hoever
invents any new, original and ornamental design for an
article of manufacture may obtain a patent therefor[sic],
subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.”31
The “conditions and requirements” referred to in § 171
are those of patentability. All patentable inventions and
designs must be (1) novel32 and (2) nonobvious,33 or not
readily apparent to someone skilled in the art. Inventions
subject to a utility patent have an additional requirement of
“utility,” meaning that the invention must serve some useful
purpose.34 In contrast, design patents are intended to protect
the “ornamental” portion of an item, which must be separable from its function.35 While the scope of a utility patent is
defined by the patent’s claims, comprised of written text and
figures, a design patent is defined only by its drawings;36 as a
result, the scope of design patent protection is limited more
than that of utility patents. When granted, design patents
provide 14 years of protection for the invention, compared
to 20 years of protection for utility patents.37
Although patent law typically is associated with the
realms of science and technology, members of the fashion
industry have tried to use design patents to gain protection
for their apparel designs. It has been extremely difficult,
however, for clothing designers to obtain design patents
because apparel designs — though ornamentally different
from one era to another — rarely merit patent protection.
First, there are few elements of clothing design that are
novel and nonobvious enough to be distinguishable from
previous types of clothing. The standard, as articulated by
the Second Circuit, is that “conception of the design must
page 21
“Trade dress” refers to the unique design
or packaging of a product, such as the
distinctive curve of a Coca-Cola bottle.
demand some exceptional talent beyond the skill of the ordinary
designer.”38 For instance, bell bottoms made a resurgence in the late
1990s, incarnated as “boot cut” pants. Though more modest in girth
than bell bottoms, boot cut pants clearly were not novel and were
obvious in terms of the prior art. As a result, no design patents could
have been issued for boot cut pants.
Second, design patent protection issues only when the design
is not dictated by the function of the product and is primarily
ornamental.39 As noted in the copyright section of this paper, it is
difficult to separate design from function in the clothing context.
In the example discussed above, even ornamental features such as
the boot cut shape serve the utilitarian purpose of protecting the
wearer’s legs.
While clothing manufacturers generally have not been able to
take advantage of design patents due to the demanding novelty
and nonobviousness requirements, athletic shoe manufacturers have
been able to obtain design patents and have been responsible for
much of the design patent litigation in the fashion context. Design
patents on athletic shoes have been upheld even when some of the
features in the design also served a useful purpose. 40 Such protection can be rather limited, however, applying only to the design as
pictured in the patent application. 41 And although design patents
have been granted to shoes on numerous occasions, courts have not
upheld these patents consistently. 42
Even if fashion designers were to develop a design that met the
standards of novelty and nonobviousness, the process of obtaining
a patent (which tends to take around two years) would in most cases
be too long and expensive to make patent protection a practical
alternative. By the time the designer secured the patent, it would
be useless because the commercial lifespan of the design would
have lapsed.
trademark
Trademarks are symbols used to identify the origin of a product
in a commercial context. By identifying the source of the product,
trademarks serve an important consumer protection function. In
contrast to copyrights and design patents, which are used to protect
the artistic and ornamental aspects of a product, trademarks protect
only the link between the product and its source, not the product
itself. If the makers of knockoff goods affix their own trademarks
to their products, then trademarks actually can serve to distinguish
knockoffs goods from originals and minimize consumer confusion.
To be a registrable trademark, a name or symbol must
be able to identify and distinguish a product from other
goods in commerce. 43 Marks that are arbitrary or fanciful
qualify for trademark registration almost immediately, while
marks that are descriptive, including surnames, must acquire
“secondary meaning” before they may be registered. 44
Secondary meaning is a specific type of distinctiveness that
is acquired through use of the trademark in the marketplace
and requires the formation of a link in the mind of the
consumer between the trademark symbol and the company
for which it is serving as a signifier. So, while fanciful marks
for clothing, such as “Banana Republic,” are easily registrable, descriptive marks such as “Tommy Hilfiger” require a
considerable amount of investment before they may become
registered trademarks.
Protection against trademark infringement has been
a key objective for many fashion houses. As knockoff
purses bearing “Kate Spade” and “Gucci” labels are sold
around the world at bargain prices, it is easy to understand
fashion designers’ concerns about trademark infringement.
Consumers may believe that the knockoff goods, which
are inevitably of lower quality, actually were produced by
the company. Some designers have seen blatant attempts
to adopt confusingly similar trademarks, as in Gianni
Versace’s case against the holder of the “A.V. by Versace”
and “Alfredo Versace” marks. 45 In a more striking case of
infringement, Calvin Klein sued a Hong Kong manufacturer
for sale and distribution of goods that the company had
rejected for quality reasons but were sold overseas with the
trademark still attached. 46 But infringement suits have been
filed not only against unknown knockoff companies; Coach
sued Ann Taylor for, among other things, an imitation of
Coach’s trademarked hanging tag. 47 The Coach court held
that Ann Taylor’s hanging tag was confusingly similar to,
and infringed, the one used by Coach. 48
On occasion, certain elements of clothing design also
serve as distinctive indicators of the clothing brand, and are
eligible for trademark protection. For example, Levi Strauss
has a registered trademark in the stitching pattern on the
back pocket of its jeans, and successfully has prevented
other jean manufacturers from using confusingly similar
patterns. 49 But Levi Strauss’ trademark protection only
extends to the stitching pattern, and not to the design of its
jeans in general. Thus, while trademark law may be used to
prevent counterfeiting or misleading production of goods, it
is not a useful tool to protect clothing designs per se.
trade dress
Trade dress protection is a relatively recent extension of
trademark law. “Trade dress” refers to the unique design
or packaging of a product, such as the distinctive curve of
a Coca-Cola bottle. Trade dress originally referred to the
design of a product’s package, but the scope of trade dress
has expanded dramatically so that it now “involves the
total image of a product and may include features such as
size, shape, color or color combinations, texture, graphics,
or even particular sales techniques.”50 Although certain
types of trade dress may be registered with the Trademark
Office, most remain unregistered and must be protected by
§ 1125(a) of the Lanham Act.51 This statutory section forbids
the use of any similar trade dress that is likely to cause
confusion, mistake or deception.52
In 2000, the Supreme Court declined to extend trade
dress protection to clothing designs in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v.
Samara Brothers, Inc.53 In this case, a children’s clothing manufacturer sued the retail chain over the sale of knockoff onepiece seersucker outfits for children. The Court held that the
outfits were not protected by trade dress law, and confirmed
that product designs are only protectable if they acquire
secondary meaning as a trademark, such that “in the minds
of the public, the primary significance of a [product design] is
to identify the source of the product rather than the product
itself.”54 Fashion designs rarely will have secondary meaning
because they are not intended to identify the source of the
product, but instead aim to make the product more useful
or appealing.55 In addition, most fashion designs would be
too short-lived to achieve secondary meaning. The Court
maintained this high threshold for trade dress protection in
order to benefit both competition and consumers, stating
that “[c]onsumers should not be deprived of the benefits
of competition with regard to the utilitarian and esthetic
purposes that product design ordinarily serves.”56
A federal court recently applied the Wal-Mart holding
in a case involving purses.57 Design house Louis Vuitton
page 23
alleged that Dooney & Bourke’s “It Bag” with multicolored
“DB” monograms on white or black backgrounds infringed
Vuitton’s trade dress in its similar looking bags. The court
held that, while Vuitton had trademark rights in the Vuitton
marks themselves,58 it did not have trade dress rights in
the overall look of its bags. Among other things, the court
was concerned that excessive trade dress protection would
hinder competition:
Louis Vuitton created a new look and now seeks to
preclude others from following its lead. If Louis Vuitton
succeeds, then it will have used the law to achieve an
unwarranted anticompetitive result. It is well established that the objective of trademark law is not to
harm competition.59
Indeed, trademark laws seek to safeguard competition,
and as the Supreme Court has observed, “copying is not
always discouraged or disfavored by the laws which preserve
our competitive economy.”60
conclusion
This paper began with a quote from intellectual property scholar Jessica Litman, in which she transposes the
traditional argument in favor of expansive intellectual
property protection to the fashion industry. According to
the traditional argument, without intellectual property
protection, artists will lack incentives to create and creative
industries will wither. It is a powerful argument, and one
that has been extremely successful in justifying new rights
— the music and film industries have used it to secure
(among other developments) a 20-year extension to the
copyright term and a new right to control access to digital
works. When applied to the fashion industry, however — as
Litman’s quote brilliantly illustrates — the theory doesn’t
hold. Despite the lack of intellectual property protection (or
perhaps because of it), designers continue to create and the
industry continues to grow.
Fashion’s counterexample challenges the idea often
reflexively accepted by policymakers and courts that “more
rights” automatically ensure “more creativity” and less
rights will choke it. In the fashion industry, the absence
of rights actually may feed the creative process. Fashion
designers are free to borrow, imitate, revive, recombine,
transform and share design elements without paying
royalties or worrying about infringing intellectual property
rights. Of course, fashion designers are not the only creators
who draw on previous works in order to create. “Culture …
grows by accretion, each new creator building on the works
of those who came before.”61 If the 12-bar Blues, boymeets-girl story, or the works of Shakespeare and Mozart
were copyrighted, much of the music, films and novels we
enjoy today would be illegal. In any creative sector, granting
excessive rights could stifle creativity, because every right
asserted takes away “raw materials” from future creators.
Fashion’s counterexample also challenges the dominant
business model in other creative industries that relies on
zealously preventing unauthorized or unpaid uses of content.
With fashion, the constant frenzy of creation and imitation
may actually drive rather than destroy the market for original
goods. Perhaps the ubiquity of a design makes owning the
original more desirable and prestigious. Perhaps designers
recoup costs by marketing to high-end consumers who want
the brand name and quality of the original, while knockoff
goods serve those who would not buy couture anyway.
Is fashion the exception or should it be the rule? Does
fashion flourish in a less protective climate because of
unique mechanics of creativity and marketing, or are we
overprotecting in other creative sectors? Either way, the
questions are crucial. As this paper has described, intellectual property has been expanding rapidly in recent years,
driven by the argument that more protection will spur
greater creativity and save creative industries from extinction. But what if this isn’t true? What if these expansions
might actually harm the very creativity and industries they
seek to protect?
We are currently in the midst of critical debates about
optimal levels of intellectual property protection. The
fashion experience can inform these debates with important insights into how the creative process works and how
different business models function, and merits further,
careful examination. w
author biographies
CHRISTINE COX
Christine Soares Cox is an attorney with Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs LLP in Atlanta. She practices
in the areas of intellectual property, franchising and general commercial litigation. Cox is a graduate of
Duke University School of Law, where she was Editor in Chief of the Duke Law & Technology Review.
She is the author of several articles on intellectual property and communications law issues, ranging
from the ownership of copyrights in digital reproductions of freelance articles to privacy concerns
regarding enhanced 911 technology.
JENNIFER JENKINS
Jennifer Jenkins is a Lecturing Fellow teaching intellectual property at Duke Law School and serves
as Director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, where she heads its Arts Project,
analyzing the effects of intellectual property on cultural production (www.law.duke.edu/cspd/arts
project). As a lawyer, she was a member of the team that defended the copyright infringement suit
against the publisher of the novel The Wind Done Gone, a parodic rejoinder to Gone With the Wind.
As an artist, Jenkins co-wrote Nuestra Hernandez, a fictional documentary addressing copyright and
appropriation, and she has authored several short stories. w
©
page 25
endnotes
1 Jessica Litman, Digital Copyright: Protecting
8 Kieselstein-Cord v. Accessories by Pearl, 632
Intellectual Property on the Internet
(Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books,
2000), 105-06.
2 “Splurge vs. Steal,” Marie Claire,
July 2005, 154.
3 Id.
4 A number of law review articles have made
this observation, and argued that fashion
designs should enjoy greater protection
under various intellectual property schemes.
See, e.g., Anne Theodore Briggs, Hung
Out to Dry: Clothing Design Protection
Pitfalls in United States Law, 24 HASTINGS
COMM. & ENT. L. J. 169 (2002); Safia A.
Nurbhai, Style Piracy Revisited, 10 J.L. &
POL’Y 489 (2002); Jennifer Mencken, A
Design for the Copyright of Fashion, 1997
B.C. INTELL. PROP. & TECH. F. 121201 (1997);
Peter K. Schalestock, Forms of Redress for
Design Piracy: How Victims Can Use Existing
Copyright Law, 21 SEATTLE U. L. REV. 113
(1997); Rocky Schmidt, Designer Law:
Fashioning a Remedy for Design Piracy, 30
UCLA L. REV. 861 (1983).
5 See, e.g., H.R. REP. NO. 1476, 94th Cong., 2d
Sess. 50 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N.
5668; Fashion Originators’ Guild of America,
Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, 312 U.S.
457 (1941); Cheney Bros. v. Doris Silk Corp.
35 F.2d 279 (2d Cir. 1929); Policy Decision,
Registrability of Costume Designs, 56 Fed.
Reg. 56530-02 (Nov. 5, 1991).
6 Addressing proposed design protection legislation in 1914, one Congressman
remarked: “The trouble with this bill is that
it is for the benefit of two parties; that is,
the enormously rich who want to display
their splendid apparel that they can wear in
this country that the ordinary riff-raff ought
not to be allowed to wear, and those rich
concerns who have these extra and selected
designers to design these special patterns
for those elite.” Hearings on H.R. 11321, 63d
Cong. (1914).
7 Testimony of the Department of Justice,
Hearings on H.R. 2223, 94th Cong. (1975),
H.R. REP. NO. 1476 at 50.
F.2d 989, 999 (Weinstein, J., dissenting) (2d
Cir. 1980).
9 17 U.S.C. § 102(a) (2001).
10 17 U.S.C. § 101 (2001); H.R. REP. NO.
94-1476 at 55. Under the current Copyright
Act, a useful article is “an article having
an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not
merely to portray the appearance of the
article or to convey information.”
11 17 U.S.C. § 101 (2001).
12 347 U.S. 201 (1954).
13 Id. at 218.
14 H.R. REP. NO. 94-1476 at 55. Congress
explained the reasoning behind this
“separability” rule as follows:
[T]he Committee is seeking to draw
as clear a line as possible between
copyrightable works of applied art
and uncopyrighted works of industrial
design. A two-dimensional painting,
drawing, or graphic work is still capable
of being identified as such when it is
printed on or applied to utilitarian
articles such as textile fabrics, wallpaper,
containers, and the like. The same is
true when a statue or carving is used to
embellish an industrial product or, as in
the Mazer case, is incorporated into a
product without losing its ability to exist
independently as a work of art. On the
other hand, although the shape of an
industrial product may be aesthetically
satisfying and valuable, the Committee’s
intention is not to offer it copyright
protection under the bill. Unless the
shape of an automobile, airplane,
ladies’ dress, food processor, television
set, or any other industrial product
contains some element that, physically
or conceptually, can be identified as
separable from the utilitarian aspects
of that article, the design would not be
copyrighted under the bill.
15 Whimsicality v. Rubie’s Costume Co., 891
F.2d 452, 455 (2d Cir. 1989). The Whimsicality
court further denied the plaintiff’s claim
that the costumes at issue in the case were
not useful articles but could instead be
classified as soft sculptures, stating that
“the word sculpture implies a relatively firm
form representing a particular concept. The
costumes in question have no such form ….
[W]e conclude therefore that these costumes
do not constitute sculpture.” Id. at 456.
16 Kieselstein-Cord v. Accessories by Pearl,
632 F.2d 989 (2d Cir. 1980).
17 Id. at 991.
18 Id.
19 Id.
20 Id. at 993.
21 Id.
22 Carol Barnhart v. Economy Cover Corp.,
773 F.2d 411, 418 (2d Cir. 1985).
23 Poe v. Missing Persons, 745 F.2d 1238, 1242
(9 th Cir. 1984).
24 Schalestock, supra note 4, at 123.
25 National Theme Prods., Inc. v. Jerry B.
Beck, Inc., 696 F. Supp. 1348, 1350 (S.D. Cal.
1988).
26 Knitwaves, Inc. v. Lollytogs Ltd., 71 F.3d
996 (2d Cir. 1995).
27 Knitwaves, 71 F.3d at 1002; Peter Pan
Fabrics Inc. v. Brenda Fabrics Inc., 169 F. Supp.
142 (S.D.N.Y. 1959); Banff Ltd. v. Express,
Inc., 921 F. Supp. 1065 (S.D.N.Y. 1995); Eve of
Milady v. Impression Bridal, Inc., 957 F. Supp.
484 (S.D.N.Y. 1997).
28 See H.R. REP. NO. 94-1476 at 55.
29 See Melville Nimmer, 1-2 NIMMER ON
COPYRIGHT §2.08.
30 35 U.S.C. § 101 (2001).
31 35 U.S.C. § 171 (2001).
32 35 U.S.C. § 102 (2001).
33 35 U.S.C. § 103 (2001).
34 35 U.S.C. § 101 (2001).
35 35 U.S.C. § 171 (2001).
36 37 C.F.R. § 1.153(a).
37 35 U.S.C. § 173 (2001).
38 Neufeld-Furst & Co. v. Jay-Day Frocks, 112
F.2d 715 (2d Cir. 1940).
39 L.A. Gear v. Thom McAn, 988 F.2d 1117,
1123 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
40 Id. Upholding a design patent on a
sneaker, the court stated: “[T]he utility of
each of the various elements that comprise
the design is not the relevant inquiry with
respect to a design patent. In determining
whether a design is primarily functional or
primarily ornamental the claimed design
is viewed in its entirety, for the ultimate
question is not the functional or decorative aspect of each separate feature, but
the overall appearance of the article, in
determining whether the claimed design is
dictated by the utilitarian purpose of the
article.”
41 Payless Shoesource v. Reebok
International, 998 F.2d 985, 990 (Fed. Cir.
1993).
42 Briggs, supra note 4, at 178.
43 15 U.S.C. § 1052 (2001).
44 Id.
45 A.V. By Versace v. Gianni Versace, 126 F.
Supp. 2d 328 (S.D.N.Y. 2001).
46 Calvin Klein Industries, Inc. v. BFK Hong
Kong, Ltd., 714 F. Supp. 78 (S.D.N.Y. 1989).
47 Coach Leatherware Company, Inc. v. Ann
Taylor, Inc., 933 F.2d 162 (2d Cir. 1991).
48 Id. at 170.
49 Lois Sportswear v. Levi Strauss & Co., 799
F.2d 867 (2d Cir. 1986).
50 Two Pesos v. Taco Cabana, 505 U.S. 763,
765 n.1 (1992).
51 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) (2001).
52 Id.
53 529 U.S. 205 (2000).
54 Id. at 211 (internal citation omitted).
55 Id. at 213.
56 Id.
57 Louis Vuitton Malletier v. Dooney &
Bourke, Inc., 340 F. Supp. 2d 415 (S.D.N.Y.
2004).
58 There was no infringement of Vuitton’s
marks because Dooney & Bourke used
its own “DB” mark, making it obvious to
consumers that the Dooney & Bourke bags
were not Vuitton bags. Id. at 440.
59 Id. at 420 (emphasis in original).
60 TrafFix Devices v. Marketing Displays, Inc.,
532 U.S. 23, 29 (2001).
61 White v. Samsung Electronics, 989 F.2d
1512, 1513 (9th Cir. 1993) (Kozinski, J.
dissenting).
page 27
E ssays: Ready to Share
ready to share:
creativity in fashion & digital culture
BY DAVID BOLLIER
AND L AURIE RACINE
Pastel hues of famed
artist Cecil Beaton
shimmer anew in
this contemporary
evening gown.
Anyone who ventures onto the Internet quickly discovers that the creative spirit is riotously
alive. On any given day, 8 million bloggers forage the deep forests of the World Wide Web
for twigs and leaves of information, which they weave into personal nests. Remix musicians
sample snippets of music and ambient sounds, synthesizing them into startling new musical
creations. Tens of thousands of software programmers collaborate in building soaring
cathedrals of code, which run operating systems, Web sites, document archives and much
more. Filmmakers and photographers pore through archives of public domain and privately
owned material searching for the perfect images from which to create new visual works.
The open, participatory culture found on the Internet
and other digital media is perhaps the defining crucible
of creativity in our time. Guided by a sensibility that
appropriates from irregular materials that exist in other
contexts and forms, the Internet has redefined the way
we express ourselves and relate to culture. Structuralist
Claude Levi-Strauss once described this recombinant creative
process as bricolage1 , a concept that refers to the constant
mixing and morphing of incongruous “found” elements into
a new synthesis.
But is this environment of open borrowing and transformation a liberating place for the imagination — or simply a
state of lawless anarchy in which pirates prey upon the work
of the truly creative and hard-working? Can a cultural milieu
truly flourish without strong intellectual property rights and
market control over creative work? Or, to the contrary, is a
deliberately unstructured, uncontrolled environment one of
the most powerful ways to nurture innovation?
We believe that the world of fashion — known for its
embrace of appropriation, derivation and imitation, and for
its ferocious attention to the bottom line — can shed light
on these questions. It can help us understand the social and
cultural wellsprings of creativity as well as the plasticity of
the marketplace. There are, in fact, many ways that the raw
social and human energy known as creativity can be refined
and packaged as it travels from the human mind and social
groups to the marketplace. This reality is on display not only
in the world of fashion, but also in the growing universe of
digital culture. The “ecologies of creativity” in both realms
are strikingly similar.
In sharp contrast, other creative sectors like music and
film remain committed to business models that value ownership and control of content above all else. To listen to music
and film executives, much of what passes for “creativity” in
the digital world is nothing less than theft. These business
leaders argue that strict copyright controls are necessary if
anyone is going to have sufficient incentive to create new
works. Yet to many artists who live and create via electronic networks, creativity has never been more robust and
innovative precisely because, thanks to new technologies,
copyright protections are relatively lax.
The core issue in this debate between intellectual
property protectionists and cultural renegades is the control
of creativity. Does creativity need to be controlled strictly
page 29
through copyright law in order to thrive? Or can creativity
actually flourish in a milieu of open appropriation and
derivation, without destroying the potential for a healthy,
competitive market? Although the fashion business usually
does not engage in this sort of self-examination, this paper
argues that the fashion business reveals a great deal about
the “cultural hydraulics” of creativity and the novel ways in
which intellectual property law can foster, and not restrict,
creative freedom.
Fashion is a quicksilver mode of creativity that many
people dismiss as trivial and ephemeral. It is, after all, the
demimonde of celebrities, high society, supermodels and
decadent flamboyance. Yet fashion is also one of the most
high-profile creative sectors of our time, with earnings that
vastly exceed those of the music or film industries.
It is difficult to find reliable numbers to describe the
scale and scope of the fashion industry. It is a sprawling
global enterprise consisting of many specialty clusters
(apparel, accessories, fabric, etc.) with many interconnected and irregular players (designers, manufacturers,
merchandisers, marketers, etc.). Yet one can get an idea of
the industry’s size when one considers that the international
trade of textiles and apparel accounts for some $495 billion. 2
In the United States alone, apparel sales in 2003 supported
an estimated 80,000 garment factories and generated $192
billion, according to the Chicago research firm Euromonitor
International.3 The American film and video-DVD industry,
by contrast, had revenues of $60 billion in 2003, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau. 4 The music industry reported
revenues of $12.6 billion in that year, according to the
Recording Industry Association of America.5
While the economic footprint and splashy styles of
fashion may attract the most attention, fashion’s distinctive
“ecology of creativity” may be its most important attribute.
Indeed, the cavalcade of beautiful clothes and accessories,
and the unpredictable new styles and attitudes that burst
forth every so often, are products of a very special social
and economic system. With great speed and flexibility,
fashion constantly expresses shifting cultural moods, social
demographics and personal identities with new apparel
designs and accessories. This remarkable and turbulent
drama is, in turn, seamlessly integrated into a complicated
market apparatus of global production, marketing
and distribution.
The result, rare among creative industries, is a highly
robust, churning tide of innovation. Fashion is a vital,
vigorous creature living in an open, always evolving environment. It is no accident that fashion permits and even
celebrates the appropriation and modification of other
people’s creative designs; these practices are an indispensable part of the process. Designers do not need to ask
permission or pay fees in order to make their own interpretations of hip-hugging denims, leopard-skin bikinis or black
evening dresses. They just do it. The ferment of new ideas
and innovation is literally out of control, and beyond the
ability of any single player to manipulate or dominate. Since
strict market control is generally impossible, nearly everyone
strives to stay ahead of the competition through the sheer
power of one’s design and marketing prowess.
Metaphorically, fashion is all about black and white
and gray. Designers use black and white shades as basics
— sometimes incorporating them as the grounding for a
season’s lines; other times using them as accents to highlight
an expression or mood. The two absolutes serve as a kind
of default to which fashion often reverts before venturing
forth to explore a broader, more subtle spectrum of color.
Figuratively speaking, black-and-white also symbolizes
the fixed boundaries of intellectual property law, which aims
to set clear rules for what sorts of innovation are permissible and which are not. And black-and-white represents
the boundaries within which the business of fashion must
operate, with profitability being of paramount importance.
But black-and-white must be seen as simply the
framework for the real work of fashion — the constantly
changing permutations of gray. Gray can be considered the
shade that drives creative innovation because creativity is a
process, not a final destination. It is made up of pathways
and linkages that are neither fixed nor immutable. There are
no absolutes, like the shades of black and white. Fashion’s
real mission and its most memorable achievements are seen
in its explorations and the filling in of everything that can
exist between the black and the white. Fashion is all about
novelty and experimentation, and about striving to be as
daring and original as possible.
Paradoxically, the unfettered freedom and pace of
fashion can exist only because the black-and-white frame
does not interfere with the sector’s open “creative space.”
In fashion, most design innovation is immediately available to everyone. Indeed, there is a long history in fashion
of “knocking off” haute couture garments and selling
them as quickly as possible at lower price points. The past
is constantly being plundered for “new” ideas. Stylistic
elements are routinely appropriated from the most unlikely
places — Polynesian islands, urban street corners, stock-car
races, bowling alleys — and transformed into new trends. In
fashion, nearly every design element is available to anyone
for the taking. Any fashion design, one might say, is “ready
to share.”
The term is, of course, a play on the fashion industry’s
bread-and-butter market, “ready-to-wear.” But we use it
here to reference fashion’s rough-and-tumble approach to
the ownership of creativity. This complex dynamic warrants
investigation. Why is it that the “borrowing” that is a standard practice in fashion is denounced as “theft” when it
occurs in music or film? Why should sampling and even exact
garment replications be considered acts of genius in fashion,
or at least respectful homage, while the titans of most other
creative fields regard such appropriations as scurrilous acts
of piracy?
Answering these conundrums requires that we probe
the deeper sources of creativity itself — and the ways that
different market structures can be built atop the social
communities responsible for innovation. It also requires
that we recognize those attributes of garment design and
marketing that are unique to fashion, and that may or may
not apply to other creative sectors.
a new grand narrative for creativity
We believe that the styles of creative bricolage exemplified
by fashion and new digital environments embody a new
grand narrative for creativity, born of ancient tradition. This
new story of creative innovation cannot be understood by
the traditional premises of copyright law, which are fixated
on individual creativity. Rather, this new story sees individual
genius in the context of evolving social relationships and
community practice. Creativity is not just a matter of indi-
vidual creativity, but a conversation between individuals and
larger communities of people and creative traditions.
The traditional story laid out by copyright law sees
creativity as more or less an individual product and a static
product; works must be instantiated in a physical medium,
for example, in order to earn protection. But the new grand
narrative that we see in fashion is, like online creativity,
inherently social and dynamic. Creativity not only is given
wide leeway to change and evolve in whatever directions
it wishes, but the marketplace also is structured to respond
to consumers in more organic, flexible and rapid ways. The
predictable and unpredictable churn of styles, and the fairly
open and decentralized marketplace, enable talented and
resourceful newcomers to enter the market and succeed.
No style is ever fixed and consummated, once and forever;
no market franchise lives forever. Creative design is always
in flux.
In this sense, fashion has many striking resemblances
to digital environments that work through the Internet.
Creative ideas are available to all through an open commons.
Creators enjoy access to a bottomless reservoir of possibilities. Consumers enjoy unparalleled choices. Despite limited
copyright protection, companies continue to rise and fall and
make money. The ecology gives rise to a centrifugal spiral of
innovation and new businesses. It is an environment in which
the open and the proprietary are more or less aligned, not
clashing, and creative freedom can flourish without onerous
legal restrictions. It is hard to imagine a more compelling,
responsive, sustainable milieu for creativity.
In the bricolage world of fashion and digital culture,
creativity is a fragile and ephemeral essence. The legendary
designer Coco Chanel once observed: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only; fashion is something in the
air. It’s the wind that blows in the new fashion; you feel it
coming, you smell it … in the sky, in the street; fashion has
to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” It is
tempting to focus on the tangible “containers,” but fashion
is simply the “clothing” for a deeper creative spirit.
What is so captivating about the ecology of creativity in
fashion is its ability to host the protean spirit of the imagination, and to build profitable businesses around it, without
becoming sterile and rigid. This same sensibility prevails
page 31
in the digital world. Although we may associate creative
artifacts with their tangible forms — CDs, DVDs and countless electronic appliances — their real essence is immaterial
and versatile. It is always in flux — moving, replicating and
morphing — through the virtual channels of the Internet.
While it is tempting to see the products of digital creativity
as instances of “intellectual property” — a fictional object
defined by law — in truth the creativity of digital media is
far too elusive, abstract and mercurial to be confined easily.
Like a virus that locates a hospitable “host” to replicate
itself, human creativity uses digital technologies as cheap
and easy hosting facilities for its relentless bricolage.
fashion and the ownership of creativity
Before exploring the similarities between creativity in
fashion and the culture of bricolage, we must explore
how creativity originates, circulates and is transformed in
the world of fashion design. It is worth probing this issue
because it suggests something about how creativity and
markets can interrelate in a healthy, vigorous way. Fashion
shows how appropriation and sharing is necessary in any
creative community and how it can also contribute to a
robust, competitive marketplace.
Fashion is one of the few creative industries in which
it is usually impossible to claim copyright protection for
one’s work. Two-dimensional fabric designs and ornamental
features such as buttons are entitled to copyright protection,
and newly developed man-made fabrics can be patented,
but otherwise, most aspects of garment design cannot be
owned. Only one’s business name and logo can be protected,
as trademarks. Despite perennial calls for extending copyright protection to more aspects of fashion, the lack of such
protection has not hurt the overall fortunes of fashion in the
least. Indeed, the industry as a whole has flourished.
The ecology of creativity in fashion features an open
design commons, limited copyright protection, a focus on
marketing and branding, and competitive markets that
reward innovation and speed. Intellectual property rights
are not unimportant in this regime, to be sure, but neither
do they obstruct new sorts of creativity and competition.
Businesses still enjoy proprietary advantages — their brand
name and reputation — but no one is allowed to privatize
and lock up design itself. Fashion recognizes that pleasing a
diverse, constantly changing consumer base in a timely way
is the key to a profitable bottom line, and that staying one
step ahead of fickle style trends that last months, not years,
is imperative to success.
The evolution of styles in fashion may seem quixotic and
arbitrary, and indeed it is, at a certain level, mysterious. One
only can venture theories. Yet it is clear enough that apparel
design has its own rudimentary “physics” — a rough set
of principles that seem to explain how new styles emerge,
develop and are embraced by consumers.
One must, at the outset, distinguish the traditional hierarchy of fashion from today’s more democratic ecology of
fashion. For most of the 20 th century, haute couture in Paris,
Milan and New York was the fountainhead of new styles. A
handful of prestigious fashion houses were the recognized
arbiters of taste, their styles trickling down to the masses
in irregular cascades. Department stores followed the lead
set by Paris, for example, making their own adaptations
of the season’s popular styles. Traditional fashion involved
designers catering to well-heeled clients, whose tastes in
clothing and style were forged, if not dictated, by recognized fashion magazines.
While the vestiges of this system remain, a far more
open, competitive and dynamic fashion industry has arisen
over the past 40 years. Teri Agins describes this evolution in her landmark 1999 book, The End of Fashion: How
Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever,6 and in
her reporting as fashion commentator for The Wall Street
Journal. She suggests that as more women entered the
workforce in the 1960s and 1970s, the cultural appeal of
high fashion waned. Working women needed a different
type of wardrobe, and department stores and boutiques
began to offer fashionable clothes at cheaper prices.
In the open and democratic fashion environment
that developed in the following decades, the aura of the
catwalk was replaced by the spectacle of the red carpet.
Styles were no longer driven by elite fashion shows, but by
movies stars and celebrities wearing couture clothes chosen
by professional stylists. Rather than a twice-a-year fete in
select cities around the world, fashion became a year-round,
ubiquitous passion.
The industry’s evolution also was fueled by the
marketing genius of Ralph Lauren, who in the late 1960s
brilliantly introduced the idea of integrating fashion with
lifestyle. He launched a campaign associating his clothing
lines with a largely imagined lifestyle of affluent, landedgentry WASPs living in a world of country estates, travel
and equestrian sports. He splashed his lifestyle fantasy
across the pages of magazines and on billboards and buses
and, in the decades that followed, the branding of clothing
and marketing of lifestyles became merged. As a result,
designers began offering apparel and accessories that
reflected and resonated influences from music, film and the
street. Retailers, in turn, reinterpreted those influences and
offered them back out to the larger culture from which they
originally emanated.
Throughout this shift in emphasis from high fashion
to today’s more ecumenical fashion marketplace, however,
there has been one significant constant: the appropriation
and derivation of other people’s creativity. If fashion is
going to be culturally relevant, it must be constantly on
the move, and no one can be allowed to own it.
the durability of homage
Fashion is one of
the few creative
industries in
which it is usually
impossible to claim
copyright protection
for one’s work.
If Ralph Lauren was a pioneer in linking an elite lifestyle to
a line of clothes, and marketing it to the masses, he was, at
bottom, aping someone else’s work. Lauren’s creations drew
upon a body of accumulated fashion design by the venerable
fashion houses, which continue to hold great cachet. Such
fashion houses as Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and
Balenciaga long have been pacesetters for “original” design.
These elite brands are not frozen in amber; they repeatedly have been built and rebuilt around an ethic of homage,
the respectful referencing and imitation of other people’s
creativity. The great designers of today routinely incorporate and adopt aspects of their mentors’ work, refining basic
elements and adding new design aesthetics. Ungaro was the
protégé of Balenciaga; Lagerfeld drew upon Chanel. Tom
Ford incorporated the traditions of Gucci, and Alexander
McQueen recognized the style of his sponsor, Givenchy.
Fashion, in this sense, always has been a form of
creativity based on lineage. The individual designer may
have his own distinctive talents, but he also participates in a
recognized tradition. Indeed, young designers freely incorporate aspects of house tradition — an affinity for draped
jersey here, an attraction to certain color palettes there
— into their own personal styles. Inevitably, when protégés
later go off to start their own named line, they take certain
stylistic leitmotifs from their former patrons while developing their individual signature look.
The adage “what goes around comes around” is
perfectly suited to fashion. In 2003, Oscar de la Renta
candidly admitted that his designs derived from famous
peers. Cathy Horyn of The New York Times reported: “In his
studio last week, [de la Renta] pointed with amusement to
a picture of a Balenciaga shift with a draped back and then
to a dress he took from his wife, Annette’s, closet, a virtually
identical model made for her in the 90s by Saint Laurent. On
Monday, Mr. de la Renta sent out his version, in vivid melon.”7
As creativity migrates the continuum from originality to
outright imitation, the very idea of “originality” begins to
appear more problematic. Guy Trebay, a fashion reporter for
The New York Times, wryly noted: “Adolfo builds a wildly
successful business on an interpretation of a boxy suit by
Coco Chanel; lucky for him Ms. Chanel, being dead, is unable
to litigate. Tom Ford becomes famous copying Halston,
Alexander McQueen for aping Vivienne Westwood. Half of
fashion, in fact, seems to owe its professional existence to
a single truism: one is as original as the obscurity of one’s
source.”8
In an environment of constant emulation, it can be
difficult to separate “originality” from “imitation.” The
two blur together so seamlessly that it often doesn’t make
sense to try to sort them out. Such conclusions are jarring
to anyone steeped in the orthodoxy of copyright law, which
presumes that it is in fact possible — and perhaps urgently
necessary — to ascertain the authorship and “originality”
of a work.
While there is little question that individual artists
bring their own distinctive talents to bear on any creation,
it is worth recalling Salvador Dali’s puckish admonition:
“Those who do not imitate do not create anything new.”
Or as fashion journalist Cathy Horyn playfully put it,
“Fashion is in some ways like a worm going from one apple
into the next ….”9
page 33
One must wonder how important “originality” truly is if a
“derivative” rendition can attract its own separate following.
Consider the daisy chain of creative transformation that bobs
and weaves from British sports and military tradition through
a series of designers to culminate in Tommy Hilfiger. Cayce
Pollard, the protagonist of Pattern Recognition, a thriller by
novelist William Gibson, frankly is repulsed by the dilution of
a style through imitation. She laments:
My God, don’t they know? This stuff is simulacra of
simulacra of simulacra. A diluted tincture of Ralph
Lauren, who had himself diluted the glory days of
Brooks Brothers, who themselves had stepped on the
product of Jermyn Street and Savile Row, flavoring their
ready-to-wear with liberal lashings of polo knit and
regimental stripes. But Tommy is surely the null point,
the black hole. There must be some Tommy Hilfiger
event horizon, beyond which it is impossible to be
more derivative, more removed from the source, more
devoid of soul. Or so she hopes, and doesn’t know, but
suspects in her heart that this in fact is what accounts
for his long ubiquity. 10
However derivative his clothing, Hilfiger remains a
popular fashion brand. The most important point may be
that one person’s etiolated style is another generation’s
fresh feedstock. What seems like a derivative dead-end from
one vantage point frequently turns out to be, decades later,
the direct inspiration for a fashion revival. Today’s styles
become the compost for tomorrow’s new growth. And so
the cycle continues.
how fashion builds upon the past
Contemporary fashion always is engaged in a spirited dialogue with the past and culture. The homage that prevails
within fashion is but a microcosm of a larger, more bracing
dialogue in all creative art, between design and earlier
styles, particularly artistic traditions and recognized cultural
symbols. The intimate affinity between fashion and culture
plays itself out as bricolage; meaning and beauty are drawn
from whatever elements are at hand, which designers then
transform into something “new.”
A dramatic explication of this premise can be seen in
the celebrated Goddess Exhibit mounted by the Costume
Institute of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
in 2003. 11 The show presented the goddess as both an iconic
artistic image and a tradition of dress design. Drawings,
sculptures and paintings depicting ancient “goddess” images
showed how recurrent motifs were used in apparel spanning the ages, from ancient Greece and Rome to the 19 th
century and modern dress. The exhibit showcased the classic
“goddess” style in three distinct dress forms of Grecian
and Roman eras, and tracked their development through
modern-day couture interpretations. Remarkably, little has
changed. Reinterpretations by Halston, Donna Karan and
John Galliano, sometimes line for line, easily could be recognized as emanating from classic civilization.
The Goddess Exhibit depicted how originality and
imitation actually can coexist in seamless harmony. Novelty
is built atop an archetype. Separating the two may be
theoretically possible — copyright law protects expression, not ideas — but in practice innovation and archetype
are inextricably fused. Indeed, that is precisely why some
designers gravitate toward archetype; such designs seem to
resonate at a certain timeless, fundamental level, while still
proving amenable to contemporary adaptation.
The fusion of fashion and art is a natural convergence,
of course. Both are dedicated to seeking out that which is
new, provocative and beautiful. Fashion and art also have
natural commercial synergies, as most designers realize.
For the last five years, Madison Avenue, world-renowned
home of designer boutiques and art galleries, has mounted
a week-long exhibition titled “Madison Avenue: Where
Fashion Meets Art.” Sales have supported such institutions as the Whitney Museum of Art, as the promotional
campaign is a yearly acknowledgement of the inexorable
link between fashion and fine art, aesthetic refinement and
upscale prestige.
Artist and designer Elsa Schiaparelli was a pioneer in
fusing fashion and art in the 1940s and 1950s. She is credited
by reviewer Roberta Smith with being “the first modern
fashion designer to collaborate with artists while also thinking
like one …. We owe to her the idea, so prevalent today, of the
fashion designer as an art-smart provocateur and promo-
“Everything in
fashion begins
in the street.”
—Diane von Furstenberg
tion-minded celebrity.” Schiaparelli made dresses inspired by
the Surrealists, transplanting trompe l’oeil techniques from
paintings to dresses. Her motifs often drew upon the playful,
conceptual art of such painters as Marcel Duchamp and Paul
Poiret. One of Schiaparelli’s dresses — a gown worn by Zsa
Zsa Gabor in the 1952 film Moulin Rouge — is an exact copy
of a dress in a Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph.12
Fashion designers do not only embrace classic artistic
forms or historical artifacts to create new lines. Fashion
routinely borrows from itself. Building a new season’s
collection on designs from years past is an essential
component of fashion praxis. Today, evidence of fashion
raiding its own closet abounds in the success of vintage
clothing dealers. Cameron Silver, the owner of Decades,
Inc., a vintage clothing chain in Los Angeles and London,
said that 60 percent of his business comes from designers. In
New York City, designers constantly trek to Gallagher Paper
Collectibles, a small East Village grotto that owns a rich
archive of vintage fashion magazines. Proprietor Michael
Gallagher told a reporter: “We get them all, Hedi Slimane,
Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, big time, John Varvatos,
Narcisco Rodriguez, the Calvin assistants, the Gucci assistants, Dolce & Gabbana, Anna Sui — you name it. They all
come here for inspiration. At least that’s what we call it.”13
Seth Weisser, co-owner of What Comes Around Goes
Around, told a reporter: “Remember that Celine doublewrap belt with the metal on the outside? The original was
from us. It’s exactly as it was.” Weisser admits that “when
the good stuff comes in, there are about five designers who
get the call.”
What fashion may borrow from art and from vintage
styles, it certainly returns in a coin of equal value. This is
an elemental part of culture: Ideas and designs must flow
constantly like water. Fashion and art both share an ethic
of borrowed inspiration. If such unmetered circulation
of design offends the guardians of intellectual property,
creators and aesthetes have few qualms. They consider
it the heart of culture. “A culture could not exist if all
free riding were prohibited,” writes legal scholar Wendy
Gordon. “Culture is interdependence, and requiring each
act of dependency to render an accounting would destroy
the synergy upon which cultural life rests.”14
the street as a source of fashion
“Everything in fashion begins in the street,” the fashion
designer Diane von Furstenberg once said. 15 Although an
overstatement, von Furstenberg’s claim points to an open
secret of fashion design: “The street” is one of the richest,
most fertile sources of innovation. It may take an insightful
designer to identify and adapt a fugitive style seen on the
street, but designers readily acknowledge that the street
has a creative vitality that no one can ignore.
The street is forever dedicated to the renegade and
unpredictable, and to styles that are jarring, improbable
and surprising. “Has there ever been a designer’s catwalk
that produced better fashion than a city sidewalk?” asks
Guy Trebay. “Is there a style, high or low, that has not
felt the influence of Fifth Avenue, or Bushwick Avenue
in Brooklyn, or the Rue Bonaparte …?” New York Times
fashion photographer Bill Cunningham has made a career
chronicling the emerging styles that he detects on the
streets of New York City. His weekly photo essays, “On the
Street,” announce the ubiquity of pink, fur, bare-midriff
T-shirts or broaches.
While some trends can be pushed successfully by
fashion-forward designers, the street is a fractious animal.
It often insists upon making its own defiant statements.
Some of the biggest trends of recent decades — cargo
pants, lowriders, frayed jeans, do-rags — originated among
the musicians, night-clubbers and bohemian vanguard of
urban America.
Urban fashion pioneers, hip-hop artists have become
one of the great engines of new fashion trends. Hip-hop
played a major role in converting track suits, wrestling
shoes (and boxing and soccer shoes), designer sneakers,
outsize denims, prison-style jumpsuits and underwear worn
above the trouser waistband into fashion must-haves. 17
Leading hip-hop artists took notice when established
Italian fashion houses like Dolce & Gabbana and Versace
appropriated urban streetwear for their new collections.
Several decided it was time for them to build on their
personal musical brands and launch their own clothing
lines: Sean Combs began the Sean John label, Russell
Simmons started Phat Farm, Eminem has his Shady Ltd.
Line and Jay-Z started Rocawear.
page 35
Female rappers like Mary J. Blige, Foxy Brown and Lil’
Kim, too, have capitalized on their celebrity image and
music to call attention to their clothing collections — a
cross-media synergy, as it were. (Lil’ Kim once posed nude
on the cover of Interview magazine with her body painted
with Louis Vuitton logos.) “Hip hop artists today are the
icons,” said Peter Ferraro, associate publisher of Source
magazine. “In the past, they were using supermodels.”18
The popularity of hip-hop — the music, the video
images, the lifestyle of its stars — propelled its move into
fashion. “The bottom line is that urban sells way more than
high fashion,” Emil Wilbekin, editor of hip-hop magazine
Vibe, told a reporter. “Sean John sells way more than a
Donatella Versace.”19
The great fashion writer Holly Brubach once wrote,
“Fashion is one of the means by which we dream collectively,” calling it “a feminine counterpart to architecture.”
If fashion is a language by which we express ourselves,
then, said Brubach, “it is incumbent on every generation
to remake the world in its image.” The street performs this
function. It is a theater in which our culture expresses itself
and remakes its identity. Fashion is the medium.
“A strong street style is the healthy sign of a society
that is enthusiastic about itself,” said artist Ruben Toledo.
“Immigration is vital to its survival. The fertilization of style
is enhanced by the rare and new, by the cross-pollination
of ideas. It is also a sign of a society that values freedom of
interpretation — underwear becomes outerwear, overcoats become dresses, extra small on me is extra large on
you.”20 The street is a key reason why fashion remains so
creatively alive. Fashion could not renew itself without the
uncontrolled cultural space that the street represents. As
one observer put it, “Street fashion can afford to make
mistakes, to change its mind overnight, because it’s cheap
or on sale or found on the curbside like an orphan.” The
street is a living proof that creativity is too large and
dynamic for anyone to own.
No one really has a protected market franchise. Every
market participant constantly must be on the prowl for the
“new,” and even classic styles must be updated periodically.
To be sure, companies can and do seek to gain some proprietary control over new trends. They try to become the first
to market, for example, or to cultivate a marketing identity closely associated with a lasting trend. Many fashion
houses also employ “cool hunters” to forage through urban
subcultures in search of the next big trend 21 , and subscribe
to “trend research” newsletters like the Tobé Report. and
other tip sheets. 22
The makers of clothing, sneakers and accessories feel
compelled to identify if and when a geeky, forgotten
product — Converse sneakers, Hush Puppies casual shoes,
pink menswear — are going to catch on as new fads.
Designers look to the street both as a source of inspiration
and as a benchmark against which they must compete. An
important factor in creativity in fashion, then, is insecurity.
No one can really know in advance just what styles the
street will embrace and ratify as a trend.
“Cool” is always moving on, just out of reach. But it
cannot be ignored if only because it embodies a spirit of
cultural authenticity and validation that commercial fashion
today needs. Fashion therefore constantly must draw upon
the street if it is to renew itself. The street has panache and
credibility precisely because its sensibility is uncontrolled
and wild; the commercial machine has not yet domesticated
it through mass marketing. Styles from the street are seen
as expressions of “real feelings”; they elude (for now) the
calculated marketing gambits of major corporations.
Designers sit astride this tension between the street and
the market. They recognize the creative energy and mass
appeal of “street styles,” yet they also know that commercialization ineluctably will take the bloom off the rose. They
pursue a paradox: to create designs that connote social exclusivity … and then reinterpret them for their customers. The
very act of selling tends to vitiate the exclusivity being sold.
Much of fashion is about negotiating this tension
between the popular and the exclusive. A fashion reporter
profiling Marc Ecko, a street-inspired designer, concluded:
“What the Eckos of the world cannot combat is the manner
in which trends often emerge organically and unpredictably
from the street. Here, young people are powerfully swayed
by and averse to marketing at the same time.”23
In truth, the street encompasses “all of culture.” Nearly
all aspects of culture are routinely used as feedstock for
new fashion designs. The most unlikely backwater in the
U.S. or anywhere in the world is regarded as a plausible
source of new styles. The fashion houses Imitation of
Christ, Preen and Jessica Ogden have built collections
around thrift-store clothing.24 Some designers have seized
upon tacky souvenir T-shirts to produce their own faux
down-home T-shirt designs. 25 Clothing inspired by NASCAR
stock-car racing — checkered tops, splashy graphics, leather
jackets with logos for Budweiser and Quaker State Motor
Oil — enjoyed a brief vogue in 2001. 26 At one point in
2002, reported The New York Times, younger designers
were “rediscovering the early renegade work of Vivienne
Westwood, whose collection drew inspiration from pirates,
peasants and American Indians.”27
All this stylistic imitation and transformation is not
necessarily faddish. Sometimes a design’s original function
specifically is utilitarian and, through circumstance, genius
or trend, evolves into an iconic fashion element, actually
creating a new archetype. For example, when Levi Strauss
made Levi’s denim trousers from tent canvas, introducing
rivets to prevent the pockets from tearing, he had no idea
that denim jeans would become the fashion staple of the
last 50 years. Likewise, Coco Chanel’s 1926 coinage of the
little black dress as a symbol of urban sophistication — a
uniform suitable for cocktail parties and concerts, not just
funerals — truly was inspired.
The trench coat originated, quite literally in the
trenches of WWI. The clothier Thomas Burberry, who
already had invented the fabric called gabardine, submitted
the original design to the British War office in 1901. The
coat was modified and given to the troops to protect them
from the muck and the mire of European winters. It later
went on to become a standard raincoat design. In the last
several years, the trench coat has re-emerged as a trendy
staple, with Burberry once again leading the charge.
The ecology of creativity in fashion that we have
sketched here points to a deep and abiding principle about
creativity: It requires freedom. It can endure only so much
private control before it careens into a downward spiral of
sterile involution. If it is to be fresh, passionate and transformative — if it is to express a cultural moment and speak
to our aspirations — fashion must have the room to breathe
and grow.
So far we have focused on the “spectacular shades of
gray” — the innovation, the experimentation, the sharing
— that color fashion, and not on the “black-and-white”
frame that contains its energies. As suggested earlier, in
order to leverage the powers of the marketplace, creativity
also must exist within a regime of business profitability and
intellectual property law. We turn now to the intellectual
property rules that enable creativity in fashion to be so
seemingly boundless yet still capable of supporting a robust
marketplace.
the ethics of imitation in fashion, or the difference
between counterfeits, knockoffs and plagiarism
A key reason why the ready-to-share ethic can survive
in fashion is that companies are able to claim property
rights, albeit through the use of two important legal tools
— trademark and trade dress. These intellectual property
protections enable businesses to leverage brand names,
logos and certain aspects of three-dimensional design that
usually are applied to handbags. The locus of piracy is thus
shifted. As a result, copying a garment design is entirely
legal, and even respectable, but copying a brand name
or logo is considered an act of piracy and the resulting
products are called counterfeits.
The legal distinction between a counterfeit and a
knockoff is crucial. It is what enables the fashion world to
sustain its wide-open creative ethic while maintaining its
profitability. A counterfeit dress is one that falsely bears the
label of another designer even though no license has been
paid. A knockoff is a dress that may be almost identical to
a brand-name dress, but it does not purport to be anything
but what it is: a nearly identical knockoff produced by
someone else.
Counterfeiting is wrong not because it imitates design
elements, but because it steals from the repository of value
in fashion — the trademarked name and logo. Designers
have credibility, stature and profitability because their
name comes to represent a look and an artistic standard.
The moment designs appearing on the runways of Paris
were mimicked and mutated for the tastes and budgets
of a larger audience, the knockoff culture was born. Over
the last 60 years, the demand for knockoffs has increased
page 37
exponentially as women have come to embrace the idea that
one can look like a million bucks without having a million in
the bank. The demand for knockoffs only has grown with
the rise of cheaper production technologies, faster logistics
and shorter fashion cycles.
Initially, department stores primarily were responsible
for harnessing and carefully reproducing the couture look.
Stores felt no compunction about offering both couture
label garments and store-label imitations. A pivotal moment
in the history of knockoffs occurred in 1957, when Seventh
Avenue garment makers copied Christian Dior skirts for
Macy’s before Dior’s own clients had received the originals.
Dior’s response was brilliant and prescient. He proceeded
to introduce his own label, non-couture, ready-to-wear
line. The idea was to profit from both ends of the market
— those who could afford couture and those who wanted
to look like they could. Today, most major designers have
developed multiple market price points.
The fashion world has become so acclimated to knockoffs that insiders trade countless anecdotes about the
lineage of an idea or the blatant imitation of a distinctive
article of clothing by someone else. The storytelling ripens
into lore that serves to reinforce and validate the knockoff
ethic. Legendary fashion photographer Manuela Pavesi
once told a friend (who later told New York Times reporter
Guy Trebay) that her Prada coat was a copy of an original
Balenciaga coat that Miuccia Prada had found at a vintageclothes dealer in Paris. “Miuccia loved this coat so much,”
Pavesi said. “So much that she took it and copied it. But I
mean copied it exactly.”28
Occasionally, the designer credited with the “original”
fights back. In 1982, Giorgio Armani called off his fashion
show because the press refused to delay publishing reviews
and pictures of his new lines of clothes until the merchandise was in stores. He wanted to thwart imitators from
making knockoffs in the interim period. And Ralph Lauren
famously sued Yves Saint Laurent in 1994 for making a
$1,000 sleeveless tuxedo gown that he claimed was a rip-off
of his $15,000 couture version. 29 (Lauren and Saint Laurent
later settled.)
Attention to design detail has become more refined in
the knockoff culture of the last decades, and price points
now range from high-end “bridge” collections to chainstore merchandise. There is now a flourishing, above-ground
segment of the industry expressly devoted to producing
replicas of dresses worn by major entertainment celebrities. ABS, started by Allen B. Schwartz, the most visible
and successful of these companies, assiduously copies the
designer gowns worn by stars at the Academy Awards
ceremony, churns them into production within hours and
has them on the department store floors within days.
Other knockoff entrepreneurs such as Victor Costa and
AnyKnockoff.com, a Los Angeles-based maker of “designerinspired products,” also give credence to this independent
industry form. Any-Knockoff.com declares (figuratively,
one assumes), “We tear out the designer label and save
you money.”
In our time, the knockoff ethic has become so consuming and ubiquitous that it is reinforced and validated by
all manner of media. The fashion magazine Marie Claire,
has a standing feature called “Splurge vs. Steal.” InStyle
magazine invites readers to “Steal This Look.” Daytime
television programs run regular segments devoted to
knockoff dressing, as do the burgeoning cable fashion
channels. There are also many Web sites devoted to
knockoff fashion (among them: fashionknockoffs.com,
knockoffs.com, edressme.com, fivestarreplicas.com and
anyknockoff.com).
There is value — for companies and for innovation
— in sanctioning imitation. The elite designers can charge
a premium for their perceived superiority and “originality,”
and imitators can make money by catering to mid-market
and lower-tier consumers who are not likely to buy the elite
brands. While a counterfeit garment clearly steals revenue
from a name-brand company, knockoffs paradoxically affirm
the elite status of the original brand while having few
harmful financial effects. Consider the vintage Valentino
gown that Julia Roberts wore to the 2001 Oscars: Victor
Costa knocked it off and sold hundreds of the gowns.
Anyone who saw or owned the knockoff referenced its
“original” designer, Valentino, even though none of the
imitators purported to be a Valentino.
A brand name is, in essence, the commodification of
socially created value. The “goodwill” of a brand represents
page 39
“Those who do not want to imitate anything,
produce nothing.” — Salvador Dali
a social consensus that a brand “means” certain things and ensures
certain standards of quality. Knockoffs help stabilize the lexicon
of meanings in fashion, albeit inelegantly, while undercutting the
counterfeiting that would surely result otherwise. The little black
dress by Chanel, the wrap dress by von Furstenberg, the Izod knit
shirt — each retains its brand-name value, in part, because knockoffs indirectly affirm the brand franchise of the “original.”
If counterfeiting is the illegal copying of someone else’s
brand name or logo, and knockoffs are copycat designs that are
sold to different market tiers, how shall we regard the verbatim
copying of designs just for the hell of it? Some critics call it genius,
others call it plagiarism. While few question the legality of verbatim
rip-offs, fashion mavens have mixed feelings about the ethics of
such practices.
A celebrated instance of plagiarism-inspired genius is the case
in which Nicolas Ghesquière, a star designer at Balenciaga, knocked
off a highly idiosyncratic 1973 vest by a little-known, deceased San
Francisco designer, Kaisik Wong, as part of Balenciaga’s 2002 collection. The “borrowing” was disclosed by the “Chic Happens” column
of the Web site Hintmag.com after the co-option of the design was
discovered by an intern.30 Ghesquière said that his design technique
resembles sampling in the music business, and admitted that he had
indeed copied the vest. Without embarrassment, he said, “I’m very
flattered that people are looking at my sources of inspiration.” The
novelist Tom Wolfe, who was a friend of Kaisik Wong’s, interpreted
the incident rather differently; he complained that the stigma of
copying should not be removed simply by calling it “referencing.”
On many occasions, wags have quipped that homage is merely
French for stealing.
When Harold Koda, the costume curator at the Met, was
asked whether it was fair for a celebrated designer to steal from
an obscure innovator and pass it off as his own without credit,
Koda replied, “What about all the famous designers today whose
collections are designed by anonymous assistants? Is that any
more unfair?”31
The line between ordinary creative transformation and plagiarism virtually can be nonexistent in apparel. “Right now at Karen
Millen you can find gold trousers remarkably similar to those at
Prada,” wrote Charlie Porter of The Guardian (UK), “while Marks &
Spencer are very proud of its animal-print kaftans which echo the
ones shown at Yves Saint Laurent.”32 Indeed, a great many fashion
experts believe that the best, most innovative work comes from the
artful recombination of existing work. Vanessa Friedman
noted in the Financial Times: “It’s ironic then that the
designers who face the plagiarism issue full-on are those
who have produced the most thought-provoking and inventive work, in much the same way hip-hop artists about 20
years ago borrowed drumbeats from chart-topping tunes
and created a new music genre.”33
In fashion, at least, this debate is a matter of professional ethics, not a matter of law. The issue in the Ghesquière
case was chiefly about the etiquette of crediting, or not
crediting, an artistic source. In truth, the appropriation of a
prior work is not just about the work itself; the recontextualization is at least as important in the creation of meaning.
That’s why contemporary revivals of decades-old styles have
a very different meaning than they originally did; the context
is completely altered.
This is the strategy that designer Russell Sage played
upon when he made clothes decorated with trademarked
logos. Sage’s Fall 2000 collection included halters made
from the linings of old Burberry trench coats, pleated
skirts with Prada and Hilfiger ads photo printed onto them,
and a Victorian evening gown with sequined Chanel and
Vuitton logos. Sage’s point was to step out of the discourse
of traditional fashion, as exemplified by elite fashion logos,
and call attention to the ways in which designer clothes are
associated with certain social tribes. He called the collection
“So Sue Me.” Burberry did, in fact, threaten legal action
and force Sage not to mention the word “Burberry” in the
collection (his substitute, “reclaimed check.”) 34
A similarly playful commentary on the elite brands
was made by companies issuing rubber knockoffs of the
famous Hermès Birkin handbag. Should the colorful bags be
considered a counterfeit of a trademarked bag design or a
fully protected satire on fashion? Hermès obviously believed
the former, and threatened legal action against anyone
making or selling the bags. But the case caused some frisson
because the creative norm in garment design is that anything
is fair game. Fashion is part of an ongoing conversation, and
therefore of course the “jelly bags” should be considered
legal.35 But since fashion accessories can be trademarked,
Hermès had considerable legal leverage in banishing the
send-ups.
Such collisions between trademark law and fashion’s
free-wheeling creative spirit lead to perennial controversies. In 2003, for example, some clever imitations of Louis
Vuitton handbags started appearing. They did not use
the famous Vuitton logos (which would have constituted
counterfeiting), but they did feature clever, suggestive
imitations of the trademarked logos.36 The copycats clearly
were trying to evoke the Vuitton handbags without stepping over the line.
So goes the homage of imitation, which necessarily cuts
both ways. When Anya Hindmarch used logos of food products on satin evening bags, the trademark owners actually
paid her to use their logos. They considered it great visibility
for their brands. It didn’t hurt that foods don’t compete
with clothing in the marketplace. By contrast, Burberry
has no desire for other designers to use the copyrighted
Burberry plaid on other designers’ clothing.
It is a timeless tension: proprietary companies seeking
control and subversive designers using bricolage to come up
with “something new.” Unlike most other creative sectors,
fashion has chosen the open-ended horizon for itself.
Innovation cannot be squelched simply because the first
mover is fearful that his market franchise might be diminished. Fashion has thrown its fate in with George Bernard
Shaw’s aesthetic ethic: “In art, the highest success is to be
the last of your race, not the first. Anybody, almost, can
make a beginning; the difficulty is to make an end — to do
what cannot be bettered.”
the future of creativity
There is little doubt that fashion presents a distinctive
milieu for creative endeavor, one that illuminates the
market benefits that can flow from a “ready to share”
creative environment. But do its dynamics hold lessons
for other creative sectors?
We are struck by the remarkable similarities between
the creative ecology of fashion and those of digital media.
While the creative milieu of fashion is unique in many
respects, the success of its framework for creativity suggests
that it might have broader lessons for the digital age. It is
striking, for example, to observe how in both fashion and
many digitally based creative communities, new ideas arise
page 41
and circulate with few impediments of either market access
or intellectual property law. Sharing, collaboration and
modification of other people’s works occur naturally, almost
automatically, and at a breakneck pace.
Open-source software may be the most celebrated
example of this creative dynamic. In open-source communities, hundreds and sometimes thousands of creators openly
appropriate and modify a shared body of software code to
build new programs that suit their purposes. Like the design
archetypes of fashion, which serve as shared models for
constant innovation, open-source software has any number
of shared scripts of code that are the basis for customized
applications. The GNU-Linux computer operating system
may be the most prominent example, but there literally are
thousands of sophisticated open-source programs that are
functionally competitive with proprietary software, albeit
with a key difference: They invite anyone to change, modify
and improve the existing code.
The Internet itself fosters this sort of creativity because
of its structural architecture. It relies upon open technical
protocols for communicating among countless computer
networks, so there is no central authority dictating how
creativity may or may not occur on the Internet. All activity
is radically decentralized, which means that most creative
innovation emerges from “on the edge” of the system, not
from the center. Anyone with a new idea can launch it and
transmit it to a global community with few impediments.
In this respect, the Internet functions much like
“the street” in fashion. It is a rich and important source
of creative inspiration. Recall that the street is an open,
bustling place filled with unpredictable new ideas. It is a
constantly churning world of innovation and surprise that
the proprietary world depends upon for new ideas, and
against which they compete.
One can find a parallel between fashion and the street
on the one hand, and Web logs (or “blogs”) and the mainstream media. Blogs are a form of personal diaries and news
platforms for individuals and communities of shared interest.
More than a way of “broadcasting” individual views, blogs
have extensive links to other bloggers who are like-minded
and admired. This cross-linking — among an estimated 8
million bloggers — has created a fantastically powerful network for the viral diffusion of information.
In many respects, the mainstream media must keep
pace with bloggers in much the same way that Levi’s or
the Gap must keep pace with the street. In both instances,
the proprietary businesses look to the creative commons
for potentially important new ideas. There may be a lot of
dross — bad ideas, unsubstantiated facts — but the aggregated power of large numbers of people on the street, or in
the blogosphere, is a creative force that cannot be ignored.
There are, in fact, many instances of this dynamic
on the World Wide Web. Many Web sites are vehicles for
collaborative creativity or archiving of community information. Genealogical Web sites assemble vast quantities
of research data, for example. The Wikipedia project is a
massive “encyclopedia” consisting of more than 500,000
entries written entirely by users. Many smaller “wiki”
projects work on the same dynamic of pooling the work
of thousands of voluntary contributors. There are fan
communities that share their fictional stories about Star
Trek characters and television stars. There are peer-to-peer
file sharing communities of scientists (having nothing to do
with illegal music downloading) who share documents and
databases as a group.
It is difficult to generalize about the eclectic types of
sharing going on over the Internet, but one rough common
denominator is a bricolage model of creativity. While
there are nominal boundaries for ownership of content
(copyright law still applies in an official sense), in practice
these communities tend to appropriate, modify and share
digital materials with great abandon. In this, the creative
process used by digital artists and authors resembles that
of fashion: Each innovator-imitator freely draws upon the
building blocks of the past and, indeed, all of culture.
The quick-and-easy excerpting of content in digital
media fuels the viral diffusion of creativity in the networked
environment. The similarity to fashion is obvious, as a new
fashion style quickly sweeps the culture and the marketplace in a matter of weeks. Because there are few barriers
to participating in the decentralized marketplace — either
from high costs or intellectual property restrictions —
creative innovations can proliferate with remarkable speed.
Some styles turn out to be fads and die out; others prove
useful, and persist and grow. No one could have predicted
that Levi’s jeans or the Chanel black dress would become
Finding new ways to balance
intellectual property law and
embedded business practices
with the free-wheeling spirit
of creatives is of the utmost
importance.
new archetypes. Fortunately, the creative environment allowed them
to emerge and find consumers. So too, on the Web, no one could have
predicted that MoveOn.org would attract 2 million contributors and
become a major force in the 2004 presidential election, or that blogs like
Boing Boing, with a daily readership of nearly 1 million Internet users,
exceeds that of many mainstream magazines. Who could have predicted
that the Grey Album, an artist’s mash-up of The Beatles’ White Album
and Jay-Z’s Black Album — would be downloaded 1 million times, more
than the sales of the best-selling album at the time, Norah Jones’ Feels
Like Home.
There are significant differences, of course, between the viral diffusion of content and the viral diffusion of fashion. Apparel is a physical
product, and requires fabric and manufacturing for production, and
still further expense to distribute. Digital content can be distributed for
virtually nothing over the Internet. But the larger point is that creativity
in both “ecologies” is fairly fluid and unimpeded. While it is probably
premature to adopt a theoretical model for innovation in fashion or the
Internet, the similarities between the two are clear enough to suggest
that it is time to develop a new narrative about creativity. Forays into
both realms reveal that creativity is by its very nature a messy process
that flourishes in open environments with minimal limitations. The best
creativity is elusive, unpredictable and ungovernable. It loses its vitality
if it is forced to remain static, and it cannot be defined easily. It thrives
without borders and suffers from having to live within boundaries.
We are drawn back to the metaphor — of black, white and shades of
gray. The worlds of business and the law prefer the absolutes of black and
white. Investors and lawyers are in the business of minimizing risk; they
prefer legal rules that are clear and business models that yield predictable
results. Companies that wish to thrive in fashion, digital media or any
other field therefore strive to enthrone the black-and-white framework
— and to minimize the “gray zone” of creative endeavor — by rationalizing it as much as possible.
This creates a structural tension with the creative spirit, however,
because authentic creativity is about following one’s passions and
emotions without regard for official boundaries. If the world of “ready
to share” in fashion reveals anything, it is that a delicate rapprochement must be negotiated between the champions of black and white
absolutes that business and lawyers embrace to compete in the marketplace, and the blended tones of gray that are the preferred domain of
creators. Finding new ways to balance intellectual property law and
embedded business practices with the free-wheeling spirit of creatives
is of the utmost importance. We believe that the fashion industry offers
many constructive lessons for how this challenge can be met. w
page 43
“Science and art belong to the whole world.” — Goethe
author biographies
DAVID BOLLIER
David Bollier is a senior fellow at the Norman Lear Center and co-founder of Public Knowledge,
an advocacy group dedicated to defending the commons of the Internet, science and culture. Since
1984, he has been a collaborator with television and film producer Norman Lear on a wide variety
of projects. Bollier also works as an independent strategist and journalist specializing in issues of
progressive public policy, digital media and democratic culture. Bollier’s recent work has focused on
developing a new vocabulary for reclaiming “the commons.” The commons refers to the diverse
array of publicly owned assets, gift-economies and natural systems that are available to everyone as
a civic or human right. Bollier’s critique of the commons is set forth in his 2002 book, Silent Theft:
The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth (Routledge), and in a number of essays and reports. He
has developed the notion of the information commons as a new paradigm for understanding the
public interest in the digital, networked environment. His latest book related to the subject is Brand
Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture (Wiley, 2004). Educated at Amherst College
(B.A.) and Yale Law School (M.S.L.), Bollier lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
LAURIE RACINE
Laurie Racine is a senior fellow at the Norman Lear Center and co-director of the Lear Center’s
Creativity, Commerce and Culture Project. Racine is the President of the Center for the Public Domain,
a private foundation endowed by the founders of Red Hat, Inc. The Center is devoted to exploring the
balance between intellectual property rights and freely reusable knowledge that is the basis of our
cultural and scientific heritage. During her tenure, she co-founded Public Knowledge, a Washington,
D.C.-based public interest group that is working to sustain a vibrant information commons. She
serves as Chair of the Board. Racine is also the President of Doc. Arts, the non-profit corporation that
produces the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Before joining the Center for the Public Domain,
Racine was previously the Director of the Health Sector Management Program at the Fuqua School of
Business of Duke University. She has spent many years as a strategist and consultant for non-profit and
for-profit enterprises. Racine received a B.A. from New York University and conducted coursework for
a Ph.D. in Human Genetics at the University of California, Berkeley. w
endnotes
1 Terence Hawkes, Structuralism and
Semiotics (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1977), 51-52.
2 Elizabeth Becker, “Textile Quotas to End
Soon, Punishing Carolina Mill Towns,” New
York Times, Nov. 2, 2004.
3 Euromonitor International Web site.
[www.euromonitor.com]
4 U.S. Census Bureau, “2003 Service Annual
Survey: Information Services — Motion
Picture and Sound Recording Industries,”
as reported in Jon Friedman, “Revenues
Increase 6% for Movie Companies,”
CBSMarketWatch.com, Dec. 1, 2004.[www.
marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.
asp?guid=%7BBCEAC3948C26-4146-95C6-E77F541F7013%7D&siteid=
myyahoo&dist=myyahoo]
5 Recording Industry Association of America
statistics. [www.riaa.com/news/marketing
data/facts.asp]
6 Teri Agins, The End of Fashion: How
Marketing Changed the Clothing Business
Forever (New York: William Morrow, 1999).
7 Cathy Horyn, “Sophisticated and
Evergreen,” New York Times, Sept. 16, 2003.
8 Guy Trebay, “Imitation Is the Mother of
Invention,” New York Times, July 7, 2002.
9 Horyn.
10 William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
(New York: Putnam, 2003).
11 “Goddess,” Metropolitan Museum of Art,
April 28-Aug. 3, 2003. [www.metmuseum.
org/special/Goddess/goddess_main.htm]
12 “Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa
Schiaparelli,” The Philadelphia Museum
of Art, 2003, reviewed by Roberta Smith,
“Making Serious Fashion from Visual Jokes,
and Doing It Like an Artist,” New York Times,
Oct. 31, 2003.
13 Ibid.
14 Wendy Gordon, “On Owning Information:
Intellectual Property and the Restitutionary
Impulse,” 78 Virginia Law Review, 1992, 168.
15 New York Times, special section, “On the
Street,” Oct. 27, 2002.
16 Trebay, “The Age of Street Fashion,”
special section, “On the Street,” New York
Times, Oct. 27, 2002.
17 Trebay, “Taking Hip-Hop Seriously.
Seriously.” New York Times, May 20, 2003;
Jon Caramanica, “It’s Not Easy Being Pink,”
profile of Cameron Giles, New York Times,
Oct. 17, 2004.
18 Billy Johnson, Jr., “Model Behavior,” The
Hollywood Reporter, Aug. 21, 2000.
19 Ibid.
20 New York Times, Oct. 27, 2003.
21 See, e.g., Malcolm Gladwell, “Annals of
Style: The Coolhunt,” The New Yorker, March
17, 1997.
22 Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 2003.
23 Ginia Bellafante, “What New Urban Wear
Trend Will Step Off the G Train?” New York
Times, Aug. 7, 2001.
24 Vanessa Friedman, “How to Spend It,”
Financial Times, Nov. 4, 2002.
25 Shalia K. Dewan, “Never Been to Hawaii?
Just Get the T-Shirt,” New York Times, July
21, 2001.
26 Bellafante, “It’s Off to the Races for Stock
Car Fashion,” New York Times, July 24, 2001.
27 Simon Reynolds, “The 70’s Are So 90’s. The
80’s Are the Thing Now,” New York Times,
May 5, 2002.
28 Trebay, “Imitation is the Mother of
Invention,” New York Times, July 7, 2002.
29 An amusing account of the litigation on
this case can be found in Teri Agins, The
End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed
the Clothing Business Forever (New York:
HarperCollins, Quill Edition, 2000), 43-44.
30 Horyn, “Is Copying Really a Part of the
Creative Process?” New York Times, April 9,
2002.
31 Ibid.
32 Charlie Porter, “Darling, You Look So
1973,” The Guardian, London edition, April
10, 2002.
33 Vanessa Friedman, “How to Spend It,”
Financial Times, Nov. 4, 2002.
34 Ibid.
35 Bellafante, “A ‘Satire’ of a Classic Fails to
Amuse the August House of Hermes,” New
York Times, Aug. 12, 2003.
36 Bill Cunningham, “On the Street: Knockoff
City,” New York Times, June 22, 2003.
page 45
Essays: Music & Fashion
music & fashion:
the balancing act between creativity and control
BY ARAM SINNREICH
AND MARISSA GLUCK
A bevy of styles from
times gone by are
reinvented in Kevan
Hall’s 2005 Spring
collection, modeled
at the conference.
In June 2002, underground music phenomenon DJ Z-Trip signed a recording contract with
Hollywood Records, home to teen pop sensation Hilary Duff and veteran television personality
Regis Philbin. While there is nothing new or unusual about underground musicians making
uneasy alliances with mainstream record companies, this was a notable event for two reasons.
First, Z-Trip’s music was made entirely from samples of other songs, none of which had been
licensed prior to the signing of the record contract. Second, Hollywood Records is a division of
the Walt Disney Company, which arguably has been the most aggressive proponent of intellectual property control in the entire media and entertainment sector. 1
Z-Trip is one of the pioneers of the mash-up, also known as
“bootleg” or “bastard pop.” This new musical style, which
emerged only in the last five years or so, has two basic
rules: First, all the source materials must be recycled. Vocals,
accompaniment, ambient noise and anything else that goes
into the mix must be sampled from an already existing
piece of recorded music. Often, this means the vocal track
from one song is “mashed” with the instrumentation from
another. However, a single mash-up can incorporate samples
from hundreds of songs.2 The other rule of mash-ups is that
the samples must be combined to make something new and
surprising. In the words of one bootleg artist, “A good mash
up / bootleg is a culture clash … styles that shouldnt [sic]
work together but do.”3
Predictably, things have not gone smoothly for Z-Trip’s
music at Hollywood Records. After years of legal acrobatics,
the company was able to license only a handful of the
dozens of samples on Z-Trip’s album. There are many reasons
why the record label may have failed to obtain the blessings of these copyright owners. Some may have had a strict
“zero sampling” policy, prohibiting derivative works of any
sort to be created. Others may not have understood what a
mash-up was, and weren’t willing or able to take the time
to learn. Some copyright owners may have been difficult or
even impossible to track down. Ironically, all of these hurdles
can be traced to the system of rigid copyright control that
the Walt Disney Company successfully has lobbied to create
over the past several decades. In other words, it was hoisted
by its own petard.
Hollywood Records finally did release DJ Z-Trip’s majorlabel debut album, Shifting Gears, in April 2005 — after a
lag of nearly three years from the artist’s initial signing date.
In that time, mash-ups progressed from underground art
form to mainstream fare distributed by MTV, Lollapalooza,
and Wired Magazine. These newer mash-ups differ from ZTrip’s underground work in one respect: They are composed
of a small pool of sanctioned, pre-licensed samples, which
were given to the artists with the express purpose of being
mashed. Gone is the innovation, the “culture clash” that
defined the form in the first place. In its stead is an often
predictable, homogenous product that arguably functions
more as a marketing pitch for the source materials than as
a new and independent work of art. In the words of French
economist and music theorist Jacques Attali, “inducing
page 47
Essays: Music and Fashion
people to compose using predefined instruments cannot
lead to a mode of production different from that authorized
by those instruments.”4 Or, as The New York Times recently
predicted, “the mainstreaming of the mash-up … may end
up killing the genre.”5
Z-Trip’s record for Hollywood, indeed, more closely
compared to these newer mash-ups, and likely lacked
the samples the company was unable to license. Before
its release, music journalist Bill Werde, who has reported
extensively on mash-ups for Rolling Stone and The New York
Times, speculated, “This album will not resemble anything
Z-Trip has built his following on. Whatever does come out
will be a very sanitized version.”6 In his later review of the
album, Werde noted, “Shifting Gears doesn’t have the
novelty of Z-Trip’s earlier work.”7
The moral of this story is fairly straightforward.
Intellectual property laws theoretically are supposed to
encourage innovation, prevent theft and reward artists.
However, in the case of DJ Z-Trip, they did just the opposite.
An innovative musician was delayed for years from sharing
his work with the market, and in order to do so, he had to
change it to make it more derivative and less original. As we
shall discuss in this paper, such outright dysfunction is the
norm, rather than the exception, in the music industry today.
It would be difficult to find a case analogous to DJ
Z-Trip’s in the world of fashion. In the fashion industry,
sampling, derivation and reappropriation all are accepted
and common forms of creative innovation. Indeed, the
creative process today is almost wholly reliant on forms of
re-use and has deftly avoided the kind of fracas the music
industry 8 faces over intellectual property protections.
However, there still are powerful institutions that help
navigate the murky waters that separate legitimate influence from theft. Without the “thick” copyright protection
afforded to the music industry, fashion depends more
heavily on social regulation and a primitive but highly functional watchdog — shame.
Fashion is perhaps the most cyclical of all design industries. As with music, ideas and aesthetics constantly have
been recycled, particularly from the 1930s to the present.
Sleeves, collars, skirt lengths, patterns, fabrics, buttons and
hems all are elements with seemingly infinite permutations,
but in reality there is a fairly limited aesthetic vocabulary,
with the proven successes cropping up again and again.
What makes fashion distinct from other culture industries,
however, is its willingness — perhaps its imperative — to
acknowledge sources of inspiration. Inez Brooks-Myers,
curator of costume and textiles at the Oakland Museum of
California, explains:
Designers will say they were inspired by the gingham
that Adrian used or inspired by the patchwork skirts
that Rudi Gernreich did. They will acknowledge inspiration, copying and borrowing heavily. There is a nuance
of change but they acknowledge the source of inspiration. I don’t know if that happens in other industries.9
On rare occasions, a fashion designer will cross over the
invisible line separating influence from theft. One example
is particularly illuminating. In 2002, Nicolas Ghesquière,
head designer of couture house Balenciaga, produced an
embroidered patchwork vest for its spring collection. Not
long after it hit the market and the fashion magazines, the
fashion Web site Hintmag.com revealed it to be a stitch-bystitch replica of a design created in the 1970s by a thenyoung, somewhat obscure Chinese American designer in San
Francisco, Kaisik Wong. The vest originally was produced in
1973, and was photographed and included in the 1974 book
Native Funk and Flash. Mr. Ghesquière claims that at the
time he produced the vest he was not familiar with Kaisik
Wong or his designs, and he has said in interviews he thought
the original vest that influenced him was from a theatrical
costume.10 When Balenciaga produced the imitation, Mr.
Wong had been dead for more than a decade, minimizing
the risk of exposure or legal action against the company.
Ghesquière is one of the few designers ever to be
criticized for copying, and perhaps was singled out only
because he failed to state the source of the original design.
“Giving credit where credit is due” is one of the unwritten
maxims of the fashion world. By not crediting the source of
his design, Mr. Ghesquière risked the scrutiny of the fashion
community; suddenly his talent — and therefore his livelihood — was called into question. While this sole misstep has
not hurt his career in the long run, the murmurs of doubt
1. Jonathan Taplin,
former tour manager
for Bob Dylan and
The Band, moderates
a session on music
ownership.
2. Brian Burton
aka Danger Mouse
answers tough questions about his illegal
mash-up, the Grey
Album.
3. Singer-songwriter
Sam Phillips brings
up her conflicts over
unauthorized use
of music samples,
but ultimately asks
Danger Mouse to
“please mash me.”
about his credibility unquestionably served as a warning
against repeat offenses — as well as a warning against theft
to the fashion community as a whole. As Cameron Silver,
fashion expert and owner of high-end vintage store Decades
cautions, “The incident doesn’t die. When Ghesquière passes
away, his obituary will mention two things: the bag [he
designed] and the Kaisik scandal.”11
This example underscores the subtle yet effective way in
which the fashion community regulates the industry through
social mores, codes and conventions, in contrast to the dense
copyright protection and brute legal force that characterize
the music industry. This difference is not simply a matter
of preference or predilection; as we will discuss later, there
also are structural features specific to fashion that regulate
copying. These include the pace of innovation (which generally renders legal actions moot); the fairly fixed number of
garment genres and styles (which virtually requires that
copying be allowed lest a genre or style be monopolized);
and the philosophical refusal of copyright law to protect
functional items.
But is this a meaningful comparison? Are there significant similarities between the creative communities and social
forces that drive fashion and music? If so, what accounts
for the drastically different industries that have emerged
to enable and profit from them? Why is it that, despite its
stringent approach to intellectual property, sales of music in
America dropped by 6 percent in 2003, while fashion sales in
the U.S. grew by 5.4 percent?12 And, given the pace of technological change and the ever accelerating cycles of innovation
and obsolescence, is there any lesson the music industry can
learn from fashion’s success in balancing creative demands
against market forces? These are the questions we aim to
address in the following pages.
music and society
Music is so deeply entrenched in our lives that we tend
to take it for granted. It is an intrinsic part of our environment, either as the focal experience (i.e., listening to a
CD, going to a concert), as background noise (i.e., waiting
rooms, parties) or as an enhancement to visual information (i.e., movie soundtracks). Music is so common in these
contexts that its absence can be disturbing. People in silent
waiting rooms often can be heard humming to themselves
or tapping their feet to compensate for the quiet. Similarly,
a movie devoid of music, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s classic
1963 thriller, The Birds, can be far more unsettling than one
with a normal soundtrack.
Music’s ubiquity can be traced to two defining features:
its invisibility and its power. All sound is, of course, invisible
by definition. It vibrates at a different range of frequencies,
and acts upon different sensory organs than visible information. Its technical invisibility also gives it a social invisibility.
This is especially true in our ocularcentric culture, which prizes
the eyes over the ears.13 We devote so much of our attention
to what we see that we rarely think about what we hear.
Thus, music becomes a kind of stealth agent, influencing our
thoughts and feelings while it hides in plain “sight.”
This stealth would be meaningless, however, without
page 49
the power that it helps to obscure. The power of music has
been extolled, debated and exploited at least since the
beginning of written history. In The Odyssey, Circe warns
Ulysses of the dangers of the music of the Sirens:
If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears
the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will
never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green
field and warble him to death with the sweetness of
their song. 14
Today, music’s power is still in abundant evidence,
from the tens of billions of dollars Americans spend on CDs
each year to the focal role music plays in social and political
change, such as the civil rights movement. This power can
be traced to three spheres of human life in which music
exerts a phenomenal degree of influence: cognitive, social
and commercial.
Recent research has established that music is a vital
factor in the cognitive development of children, and even
may have played a central role in the evolution of the
human mind. 15 This finding is no doubt evident to readers
in their own lives. From the traditional “Alphabet Song” to
the current craze for Baby Einstein products, music has been
linked inextricably with the process of imparting knowledge
and values to children from infancy onward.
Similarly, researchers have identified numerous ways
in which music both produces and reflects social structures.
Attali writes that “all music, any organization of sounds
is … a tool for the creation or consolidation of a community.”16 Music serves less grandiose social purposes as well.
Media research has identified scores of different “uses and
gratifications” for people’s interaction with music, ranging
from social lubrication to political message dissemination to
personal mood management. 17
Finally, music has become a commercial entity — a
development we will examine at length in this paper. For
now, suffice it to say that music is both a product in itself
(when distributed via CDs, radio or downloads, for instance)
and an essential component of our commercial system (in
the form of advertising jingles, theme songs, etc.).
fashion and society
While music derives much of its power from its invisibility,
fashion is one of the most visible markers we have in
contemporary society to express affiliation, lifestyle choice
and identity. Yet paradoxically, its utter ubiquity also affords
it a status — similar to that of music — beyond questioning
or criticism. We may make decisions about what clothes to
buy, or what shoes to wear, or cattily dismiss someone’s
choice of apparel, but few of us ever stop to wonder why
fashion exists, why it changes so rapidly or what those
changes mean about our society.
Consequently fashion, like music, enjoys a social power
that far exceeds its apparent role in our lives. A hat is never
just a hat, and we rarely wear one simply to guard against
the cold. Arguably fashion is by definition the symbolic
coding of social power through apparently innocuous means
such as shape, texture or color. This is evident in the breadth
and scope of its social functions. It has been used as an index
of social rank in Victorian England, and as a gauge of social
mobility in 20th century America. It has been used to express
ideological conformity and allegiance, as in the case of the
Mao Suit, and social unrest or nonconformity, as in the case
of the 1960s Flower Power movement. Throughout time,
fashion has been used to communicate a dizzying array of
social signifiers, such as class, gender, occupation, regional
identity and religion. 18 The brilliance of fashion is that, for
the system to work, all people have to do is wake up in the
morning and get dressed.
Although fashion may seem innocuous and simple on
an individual level, religions, governments and other large
organizations long have seen the value of fashion as a form
of social control, dictating uniforms and dress codes, and
prescribing and proscribing everything from shoes to hats
to underwear. In the Middle Ages in England, for example,
livery — uniform clothing or the badge or cloak color of
the lord’s family — was heavily regulated. If a person took
a nobleman’s livery, he became his servant and owed him
loyalty and other required services. A liveried servant also
shared his nobleman’s identity to a certain extent, granting
him legal privileges he would not have enjoyed otherwise.
Similarly, during Elizabethan times, Sumptuary laws
restricting lavish dress were passed in order to maintain the
boundaries between the nobility and the rising bourgeoisie.
Elizabethan lawmakers feared that “letting anyone wear
just anything must lead inexorably to moral decline. If you
couldn’t tell a milkmaid from a countess at a glance, the very
fabric of society might unravel.”19
Fashion, like music, was redefined by the advent of
modern capitalism. In contemporary society, fashion serves as
a commercial entity, driven by the same forces of manufactured demand and planned obsolescence that characterizes
everything from movies to breakfast cereals to presidential
candidates. This commodification of fashion historically has
interacted with America’s social mobility and class competition, in effect producing an almost feverish obsession with
fashion among many Americans, particularly women.
In the last few decades, as more traditional notions of
social class have given way to increasing fragmentation based
on cultural interest, consumers have had greater freedom to
construct their social identities based on other parameters,
such as participation in certain fashion-related lifestyles.
Leather-clad dominatrix, polo-wearing Connecticut preppie
and So-Cal surfer all are accessible identities to anyone with
a credit card. To paraphrase Hamlet’s Polonius, “the clothes
make the man.” This change, from class identification to lifestyle articulation, suggests that fashion offers a greater level
of individual agency today than in earlier eras. In contemporary culture, “consumption is conceptualized as a form
of role-playing, as consumers seek to project conceptions of
identity that are continually evolving.”20
Thus, both music and fashion act as social stealth
agents, regulating and reflecting cultural roles and expectations while eluding scrutiny through their ubiquity. Music’s
stealth is aided by its literal invisibility, while fashion
functions in spite of, and because of, its hypervisibility. In
contemporary society, both music and fashion generally are
regarded in primarily capitalistic terms. Songs and apparel
are conceived of as products, and most people relate to
them as consumers. However, both music and fashion
originate within creative communities, which are built on
a different kind of relationship: that between an artist and
a work.
musical community and commons
Most everyone can agree that, as Leonard B. Meyer puts
it, “music has meaning and … this meaning is somehow
communicated to both participants and listeners.”21 In other
words, music, like all activities that come under the rubric
of “art,” is a fundamentally communicative and therefore
social act.
As Meyer observes, music can be addressed to two
kinds of audiences: “participants” and “listeners.” Although
this distinction may seem intuitively obvious, there is an
immense gray area between these two extremes. Dancers,
people clapping in time to the beat or musicians playing
along with recordings all are difficult to categorize
according to this dichotomy.
There are social, political and economic reasons for the
existence of these two opposing roles. As Attali argues, the
distinction of musicians as a separate category of individual
originally served to strengthen and legitimize hierarchical
social and political structure during Europe’s feudal era. 22
Later, of course, the musician-listener dichotomy would
come to echo and reinforce the producer-consumer relationship that drives the capitalist system. As we will argue later
in the paper, we believe this distinction has ceased to be
useful (if it ever was), and actively is preventing our society
from allowing music to progress in the current era.
As a social phenomenon, music takes place within
communities. From the collective worship of a church choir
to the performance of the national anthem at a baseball
game to a freestyle competition at a hip-hop club, music
often serves to define and unite a group of people with one
another and with other groups of people. Like fashion, it is
an essential element in social identity, both a bonding ritual
and a kind of aesthetic shorthand for categories ranging
from age to ethnicity to sexual orientation.
But if music occurs within communities, it is also rooted
within Community. Music is an ever evolving language,
the lexicon and grammar of which constantly are being
updated and negotiated by musicians around the world. This
ongoing dialogue constitutes a community that transcends
the boundaries of region, style and even period. Practicing
musicians, for instance, tend to have knowledge of and
expertise in a range of styles far broader than the ones they
page 51
“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” — Henry David Thoreau
from Hungarian classical composer Zoltán Kodály to worldfamous Pakistani Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to
American jazz drummer Buddy Rich all have been quoted
independently as saying: “Music belongs to everybody.”
fashion community and commons
typically perform. 23 Thus, music can have meaning or power only
in the context of other music. Put another way, music dwells in the
differences between sounds, not in the sounds themselves.
If difference is the mark of music, then innovation is the engine
that drives it. Difference can only exist by dint of innovation. Despite
the resistance of some academics, critics and other purists to change,
and attempts to confine music within known parameters,24 it is
amply clear that one of the characteristics all music shares — from
the traditional songs of Tuva25 to the most synthetic products of the
American pop market — is an ever changing nature, fueled by the
mechanisms of reinvention, reinterpretation and recombination. As
music sociologist Hugo de Jager writes, “The sum total of available
elements in a society (which is called its ‘cultural base’) influences
the number — and perhaps the kind — of innovations a composer
living in that society can make.”26
Thus one may argue that innovation springs from collective
access to the creative commons in music, as in other creative communities. 27 This means that all musicians may draw on a common set of
ideas and materials, and that each new composition or performance
instantly joins that commons as soon as it becomes publicly available, by whatever means.
In some cases, this is a subtle and sweeping process that sets
the rules for all who follow, as when J.S. Bach redefined Western
harmony, or when Charlie Parker revolutionized improvisation in
American music. In other instances, the process can be more visible
and less widely influential, as when one musician reinterprets or
samples another’s work. Either way, every musician is engaged in
an ongoing dialogue with all other musicians, past, present and
future. This truth has been acknowledged frequently by musicians
themselves. As jazz saxophonist John Coltrane once said, “It’s a big
reservoir, man, that we all dip out of.”28 Similarly, musicians ranging
As with music, fashion encompasses a large gray area
between the extremes of consumers and producers. This gray
area, in which creative thinkers draw upon an ever growing
and constantly circulating pool of common memes, is arguably the source of new ideas and trends within the fashion
industry. Sociological literature on innovation describes it as
an interactive process, dependent upon cumulative knowledge and the capacity for interchange between individuals,
institutions and organizations. Academic research on fashion
echoes this definition. As Vincent B. Leitch writes, “innovation
in fashion is less a matter of creativity ex nihilo than of mutation and pastiche.”30 In fashion today, innovation continues
to thrive as its central practices — foresight, flexibility and
cooperation — flourish in a fairly open and unfettered
creative commons.
While fashion, like music, is a global community
— fragmented, multifaceted and highly stratified — it also is
tied to an industry that reaps the benefits of agglomeration
economies, or the types of spatial concentration that create
advantageous economic conditions, resulting in sustained or
increased concentration.31 Thus, Paris has remained a central
node in the global fashion economy, along with New York
and Milan, and London, Tokyo and Los Angeles serve as a
second tier. Designers tend to live and work in one or more
of these cities, as do buyers and merchandisers, and design
schools such as Parsons School of Design in New York and
Central Saint Martins College in London are located in these
fashion centers. Of course, the actual production of most
clothing, with the exception of haute couture or signature
collections, is outsourced to the third world, mainly to
Asian countries.
The career of most designers is a peripatetic one,
moving between companies every few years. Fashion
design, like entertainment, depends more and more on
blockbusters. One bad collection can sink a design team.
As Richard Wheeler, an accessories designer at Ann Taylor,
commented, “Teams don’t stay in place for more than a few
years. If there is a bad season, it’s always seen as the designer’s fault. You fire the designer and hire a new team.”32 This
approach helps to create a community that is fairly fluid,
with talent, ideas, individuals and aesthetics constantly recirculating within a relatively limited sphere.
Both music and fashion owe their existence to globalized
creative communities, which thrive on the continual circulation of ideas and mining of the creative commons. Unlike
technological or industrial development, in which new objects
and ideas may be discovered (e.g., Neptune, penicillin) or
invented (e.g., airplanes, zip codes), both music and fashion
rely on innovation — the reshuffling of known elements into
unique and surprising patterns — for creative advancement.
Thus, in order to innovate effectively, musicians and
fashion designers must operate within environments that
grant them access to ideas and the permission to use them
in new and creative ways. Neither community exists in a
vacuum. Both function within highly structured industries
that have emerged over the years to enable and exploit
the fruits of creative endeavor. These industries have a
constraining effect on the creative communities by continually pitting the financial, legal and structural imperatives of
their own continuance against the needs of the artists themselves. Often, this means restricting access to the creative
commons. In order to understand how market forces came
to exert such control over music and fashion, it is useful to
examine the histories of these industries.
music industry history
The history of the music industry is, arguably, one of
increasing institutional control, narrowing access to the
means of production and distribution, and a widening gap
between music’s social origins and its commercial role.
In early traditional societies that lacked the capacity to
turn music into a static object, either through the printed
score or through recording technologies, music was synonymous with live performance. This living music was, by and
large, integrated into the fabric of life and shared among
the community in a way people in our society scarcely can
understand. As Attali writes of music in the Middle Ages,
“The circulation of music was neither elitist nor monopolistic
page 53
of creativity … music in daily life was inseparable from lived
time, in which it was active and not something to be watched.”33
Similarly, music historian Eileen Southern writes that “for every
activity in the life of the individual or the community there was an
appropriate music; it was an integral part of life from the hour of
birth to beyond the grave” in West Africa during the slave trade
years of the 17th through the 19 th centuries.34
Despite the vital role music played for members of traditional
society, there was often what amounted to a class of professional
musicians — composed of individuals assuming inherited positions
— whose job was to serve not only as entertainers but also as
traveling cultural historians, news distributors and political propagandists. The griots of West Africa, jongleurs and troubadours of
Western Europe and bards of Ireland all fit this description. These
professional musicians became more and more estranged from
society, however, as centralized political and religious powers
arose and put a stop to their itinerancy. In Europe during the 16th
century, Attali writes, “musicians became professionals bound to
a single master.” The feudal courts “banished the jongleurs, the
voice of the people, and no longer listened to anything but scored
music performed by salaried musicians.”35 This officially sanctioned professionalization was the beginning of a long process by
which powerful interests gradually would remove music from the
public sphere and control its distribution for religious purposes or
political or financial gain.
The next major development along these lines was the
creation of the printing press, and with it, the idea of copyright.
This concept has been a double-edged sword for musicians
and musical culture since its inception. Although it provided an
opportunity for composers to achieve both cultural renown and
financial compensation for their work, it also is evident that “in
the beginning, the purpose of copyright was not to defend artists’
rights but rather to serve as a tool of capitalism in its fight against
feudalism.”36 In other words, the benefit accruing to musicians was
incidental to the primary aim of establishing a financial system
based on the control of creative expression. Media scholar Siva
Vaidhyanathan reminds us this set-up is still very much in place
since “copyright issues are now more about large corporations
limiting access to and use of their products, and less about lonely
songwriters snapping their pencil tips under the glare of bare
bulbs.”37 As we will discuss, this function of copyright is especially
problematic when it comes into conflict with the mechanism at the
heart of any creative community, namely the free flow of ideas.
With the development of the printed score, music became
a commodity that could be bartered for cash, akin to food or
clothing. This commodification was reflected in performed music
as well, with the development of concert halls and ticket sales.
Music was removed from its function at the heart of everyday life
and placed on a shelf, or behind a proscenium, where only those
who were willing and able to pay could access it. Meanwhile, the
music of the streets atrophied, as new musical traditions rooted
in professional expertise and requiring the use of expensive
equipment overwhelmed the old aesthetics.
With the advent of sound recording at the end of the 19th
century and radio broadcasting at the beginning of the 20 th
century, the encapsulation of music within a capitalist framework
was completed. A new class of organizations, such as record labels
and radio networks, emerged to monopolize the channels of
distribution between musical performers and their audiences, now
two separate social categories. New and more elaborate conceptions of intellectual property emerged to protect the interests of
these organizations, and new financial structures based on the
economies of mass production emerged to support them.
These developments affected people’s relationship to music.
One effect of the emerging mass market music economy was that
the cost of manufacturing products was eclipsed by the cost of
manufacturing demand. 38 Today, the majority of expenditures
by record labels are related to marketing and promotion, rather
than production and distribution. Music sellers now spend
billions of dollars each year attempting to persuade customers to
purchase something they used to manufacture freely for themselves and for one another. Ironically, music becomes even more
peripheral through this process, as songs essentially are sales
jingles advertising the discs on which they are recorded. Similarly,
live performances primarily have become showcases for recorded
music, an inversion of their original relationship.39
This situation reflects another, larger inversion at the center
of musical culture today. If the music industry originally developed as an ancillary to musical community, today the community
serves as an ancillary to the industry.
fashion industry history
For centuries, clothing design and production were under the
purview of mostly anonymous dressmakers and seamstresses,
and were not yet dictated by the proclamations of famous,
individual designers. In the 18 th and 19 th centuries in the U.S.
and Europe, clothes had not only symbolic influence but also
economic currency. For many working-class families, clothing
comprised a significant percentage of their material worth.
In France, a suit purchased at the time of a young workingclass man’s marriage literally was expected to last a lifetime,
and worn to church, weddings and funerals. In England,
clothing was somewhat limited to the working classes, and
low income families formed clubs to save enough money to
purchase clothes. 40
Until the 18 th century, fashion was the province of the
upper class, and production was done by hand. Advances in
technology and industrial manufacturing in mid-18 th century
Europe engendered the rise of the textile and apparel industries. The industrial revolution also meant a rising standard
of living for the working and middle classes, suddenly
allowing them to buy much less expensive, mass-produced
versions of Parisian haute couture.
At the end of the 19 th century, with the advent of mass
production, clothes became even cheaper and more accessible to the working classes. As a result, clothing and fashion
first became democratized, and, as Diane Crane argues, this
evolution was most evident in the United States because of
its fluid social structure. By the early 20 th century in America,
consumers were buying haute couture copies in the recently
founded department stores and retail catalogs. Some were
sold as approved “reproductions” of European designs but
the majority consisted of unauthorized knockoffs.
Despite France’s dominance in the decorative arts (e.g.,
furniture, porcelain and silver), it was Charles Frederick
Worth, an Englishman living in Paris in the mid-19 th century,
who first established the concept of the fashion designer as
an autonomous artist. Worth founded his maison couture,
the House of Worth, a name that simultaneously established
the centrality of the designer to fashion and conferred
brand-name status on the designer himself.
Succeeding Worth at the forefront of fashion design
was Paul Poiret, who not only waged war against the
corset but also established what is now thought of as haute
couture. In the 20 th century, many of today’s most famous
and most expensive brands were established, including
Chanel, Balenciaga and Dior. As with Worth and Poiret,
these brands almost were inseparable from the designers,
who often expanded beyond haute couture into other
artistic disciplines and entertainment endeavors. For example, Coco Chanel often dabbled in costume design. She
designed the costumes for Jean Cocteau’s 1924 operettedanse, Le Train bleu, and again for Gloria Swanson in the
1931 film Tonight or Never. She also collaborated with Jean
Renoir in 1938, designing the costumes for La Marseillaise.
Thus, like music, fashion design is an aesthetic practice
taking place within artistic communities. However, unlike
most music, fashion must meet the added requirement of
functionality. 42
Over the past century, fashion has undergone a
transformation in everything but name. The history of the
fashion industry in the U.S., in contrast to that of music,
reflects a continuing resistance to oligopolistic control
and strict intellectual property controls. While there is a
widening gap between music’s social origins and its commercial role, in fashion the two coexist in relative peace.
For many decades, haute couture dictated fashion trends
as designers, on high, came down from the proverbial mountain twice a year to dictate to their upper-class customers,
decreeing the height of their hemlines, the silhouette of their
shoulders, and the appropriateness — or not — of pleats.
Design houses usually were owned by their designers, clothes
were still produced by craftspeople domestically and the
fashion community was fairly small, centered in Paris. Thus,
while styles changed from season to season, the fundamental
structure of the business remained stable.
By the 1960s, haute couture’s stranglehold on fashion
was beginning to weaken. Hollywood films, television,
rock music, youth culture, the woman’s movement and
revolutionary politics all served to destabilize the top-down
fashion paradigm, with trends generated by consumers
(particularly the younger ones) rather than the large
couture houses. The further democratization of fashion
could be seen in the establishment of numerous casual wear
companies such as the Gap (1969), Ann Taylor (1954) and
J. Crew (1983). Such changes in the fashion industry were
precipitated by the underlying cultural, political and social
shifts following World War II. American consumers, finally
page 55
liberated from the shackles of the Great Depression and
infused with a sense of self-sufficiency and national pride,
adopted a far more active role. They no longer were content
simply to accept the dictates of Paris, Milan and New York.
Consumers were usurping the autonomy of producers, and
the relationship between the two has been complex and
tenuous ever since.
If these changes reflected social evolution, they also
were enabled by legal developments. During the 1940s in
the United States, several crucial legal decisions established
the validity and value of knockoffs, sampling and reappropriation in the fashion industry in the name of healthy
competition. For instance, in 1940 the Millinery Creators’
Guild v. FTC decision determined that piracy in fashion triggers a downward force on pricing, making it a socially desirable form of competition. Similarly, a year later, the judge in
Cheney Bros. v. Doris Silk Corp. rejected a request to prohibit
design piracy on the grounds that such a prohibition would
grant a de facto monopoly to designers, who formally are
denied patent and copyright protection. Thus, the fashion
industry consistently and intentionally has been denied
the legal protections afforded to other design industries,
in order to maintain a healthy creative ecosystem and the
continuing availability of diverse, inexpensive products to
the American consumer base.
The changes in the fashion industry during the mid-tolate 20 th century contributed to a creative climate in which
designers influence and draw influence from one another.
Fashion is a chaotic if highly stratified industry, and the
directional flow of aesthetics is now top-down, bottomup and side-to-side. Ideas flow in every direction, so any
attempt to pinpoint the creative forebears of any given
garment (unless it is an exact copy) is an exercise in frustration and futility.
The advent of the modern media system in the 20 th
century also had an enormous impact on dictating fashion.
Cultural icons such as musicians, actors, celebrities, royalty
and political figures came to influence trends. Today,
newspapers, magazines and Web sites report daily on what
Beyoncé, Cameron Diaz and the Bush Twins are wearing.
The role of media and entertainment as mediators between
designers and consumers, in the form of the myriad maga-
zines, TV shows and even films about fashion, cannot be
understated. While the aesthetic inflection points between
celebrity and fashion are beyond the scope of this article,
suffice it to say that the constant flood of entertainmentfocused media has turned celebrities (and their stylists) into
the new authorities on fashion trends.
Thus, the music and fashion industries evolved quite
differently, despite their similar origins. The music industry
grew to exert ever more rigid and consolidated control over
musical expression, to such a degree that the creative needs
of musicians and music listeners have taken a back seat to
the financial needs of the marketplace. The fashion industry,
however, has evolved with a healthier balance between
creative and economic demands, offering consumers and
aspiring designers a greater degree of control and agency
than they enjoyed a century ago. These divergent paths
have produced significantly different legal, economic and
organizational structures, which we will now examine.
legal structures
The legal structure of both the music and fashion industries
is contingent upon the notion of intellectual property,
which Vaidhyanathan refers to as “the murkiest and least
understood aspect of American life and commerce.”43 By
this, he means that intellectual property laws are complex,
difficult to police and enforce, always changing, and often
out of step with the latest trends in technology and culture.
Despite their nebulous quality, one thing is clear and
consistent about the collection of rights, privileges and
practices commonly grouped together under the heading
of intellectual property law: They all were founded on the
premise that democratic society and creative cultures thrive
on the free flow of ideas, and that remunerating people for
sharing their ideas is the best way to keep them flowing.
This notion can be found in the origins of traditional forms
of intellectual property, such as copyrights, patents and
trademarks, as well as newer alternative models such as GNU
and creative commons licenses.
Copyrights give “authors” the exclusive power to
control a “work” fixed in a tangible medium. The tangibility
is important: Copyrights protect the expression of an idea,
rather than the idea itself. In practice, this generally means a
Copyright changes historically have lagged
significantly behind technological innovations.
person or company possesses the rights to copy, perform or
sell a book, song, software program or some other creative
work. American copyright law is based on a constitutional
mandate that Congress give creators an incentive to create,
for the good of society. Consequently, copyrights always
have had built-in limitations, such as a fixed expiration term
and specified “fair use” exclusions for journalists, educators,
critics and other contributors to the public sphere. However,
such restrictions have been scaled down significantly over the
years, as media and software companies have lobbied successfully Congress to push back expiration terms,44 limit fair use
in new legislation, and include a growing range of categories
as “works” that can be protected under copyright.45
Copyright traditionally has been the principal form of
intellectual property law applied in the American music
industry. This application has broadened considerably over
the years. Printed material, such as scores, was covered first
in 1790. Public performances were not covered until 1889.
Mechanical reproduction, a right currently applied to songs
on CDs, first was introduced in 1909 to cover piano rolls.
In 1972, nearly a century after the invention of recorded
sound, a new kind of copyright was developed to describe
the performances (rather than the compositions) captured
on records. Television broadcasts and jukebox playback first
were added in 1976. 46 Today, all of these copyrights and
more commonly are used in the music industry, creating a
dense web of overlapping and interweaving protections that
constantly is tested and renegotiated through legislation,
litigation and contractual bickering.
As this brief overview demonstrates, copyright changes
historically have lagged significantly behind technological
innovations. As the pace of technological change continues
to accelerate, it is becoming more difficult to apply existing
copyright laws in a meaningful way. This is a problem we will
address further in the next section of the paper.
In the fashion industry, copyright typically has been
denied to apparel design, due to the idea that apparel
consists of solely useful articles. Useful articles, under the
Copyright Act of 1976, have only limited protection — there
must be elements of a “pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work
that may be identified separately and can exist independently of the utilitarian aspects of the article.” Little has
changed since the act was passed, despite the 1977 claim by
former Register of Copyrights Barbara Ringer that design
protection was “one of the most significant and pressing
items of unfinished business” of copyright revision. 48
Unlike in other industries, which are increasingly
oligopolistic, the denial of copyright protection in fashion
effectively has prevented monopolistic or oligopolistic
control. Legislators and judges consistently have concluded
that the public interest would be served best by denying
copyright protection to designers, in effect promoting the
free exchange of fashion ideas among a broad community
of participants.
Like copyrights, patents were developed at the behest
of Congress in order to spur creativity by granting a degree
of control and remuneration to creators. Patents, known as
the “law of invention,” generally apply to ideas or processes.
Unlike copyrights, patents cover both an idea and its execution, and their terms are not extended to a functional
infinity; currently patent terms last for 20 years. The three
standards generally required to obtain a patent are usefulness, novelty and nonobviousness. As a consequence of these
features, patents have found little use in the music industry
outside of recording technologies and business practices.
Patents play a limited role in the fashion business, as
well. Besides the three general patent standards, fashion
law has added supplemental criteria. According to a historic
court ruling on the subject, “the conception of the design
must require some exceptional talent beyond the range of
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the ordinary designer familiar with the prior art.”50 In other
words, innovation isn’t enough — invention ex nihilo is the
bottom line.
Apparel designs consistently have failed to meet these
requirements, for obvious reasons. However, there are
other good reasons for the paucity of patents in fashion. It
commonly is believed that even if patent law were modified
to accommodate the unique needs of the fashion industry,
the lengthy patent approval process would render its protection useless. Patent protection is most useful for articles and
inventions that are used repeatedly and have a long shelf
life. Fashion, with its abbreviated time spans and ephemeral nature, would have to rely on protection retroactively.
The cycles of production and distribution, accelerated in
the fashion industry, make litigation over IP infringement
ineffectual and unwieldy. Thus, there has not been an
aggressive push within the U.S. by apparel designers or
manufacturers for more rigorous patent protection.51
Trademarks, which protect the commercial reputation or “goodwill” of a company or creator, play less of an
immediate role in ensuring innovation and market diversity.
Yet an argument can be made that it is easier for companies
to market and sell a unique product with a unique brand
attached to it. Trademarks, which are protected for infinitely
renewable 10-year terms, generally are used within the
music industry only to protect label names and unique artist
names. However, they play a far more central role in the
fashion industry.
According to current trademark law, marks or brands
that are descriptive, such as a designer’s name, must gain
a “secondary meaning” in order to qualify for registration.
Thus, designers who intend to trademark their name, such as
Calvin Klein or Donna Karan, must prove they’ve established
a reputation in the marketplace — one in which their name
has achieved a separate, qualitative significance. Obviously,
a great deal of money must be spent to establish a brand
that is distinct and recognizable, so it is no surprise that
companies guard their trademarks aggressively.
Trademark law, while protecting designers from the
unauthorized use of their registered marks (usually their
labels), does not extend to the actual design of a garment
itself. Thus, it is legal for a manufacturer to make an exact
reproduction of another company’s apparel design “without
suffering any repercussions under trademark law.”52 To
combat this standard, designers have sought protection under claims of unfair competition. If a designer can
demonstrate the sale of a reproduction is likely to confuse
the public, she may be afforded greater protection. This
point is especially salient for design houses that consistently use their trademarks in their fabric patterns, such as
Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and therefore have a better
chance of proving an unfair competition claim. However,
the majority of fashion companies would not benefit from
such litigation, given the seasonal and ephemeral nature of
fashion, which makes pursuing such claims burdensome.
As technology has advanced in recent years —
producing new creative products such as computer software
and variations on older creative products such as recorded
music and video — patents, trademarks and copyrights no
longer represent a flexible and robust enough framework
for control over intellectual property. The all-or-nothing
approach embodied by traditional intellectual property
law, which assumes a strict dichotomy between producers
and consumers, lacks the capacity to cope with the vast and
expanding gray area between the two roles.
Consequently, a variety of new models have been put
forward to strike a better balance between the needs of
creators, the public and the industries that connect them.
For example, the GNU project was launched in 1984 in order
to encourage information sharing and innovation among
the software community.53 Participating software developers use a “copyleft” instead of a copyright to designate
their work. In the words of GNU founder, Richard Stallman,
the idea of copyleft is:
[W]e give everyone permission to run the program,
copy the program, modify the program, and distribute
modified versions — but not permission to add restrictions of their own. Thus, the crucial freedoms that
define “free software” are guaranteed to everyone
who has a copy; they become inalienable rights.54
Creative Commons, launched in 2001, aims to apply
the same kinds of freedoms to a broader range of creative
works.55 The organization offers creators the ability to
assign four conditions to their works that offer more
freedom than traditional copyright but more control than a
work ceded to the public domain. An “attribution” condition allows others to copy, distribute or perform a work as
long as the original creator is given credit. A “noncommercial” condition allows others to copy, distribute or perform a
work for free. Under this condition, commercial users need
to pay a negotiated fee. A “no derivative works” condition
allows others to copy, distribute or perform a work, as long
as it appears (or sounds) exactly like the original. Under
this condition, derivative works like samples or collages can
be produced only with the original creator’s permission. A
“share alike” condition allows others to distribute their own
derivative works only under a license identical to the one
that governs the original work. Millions of works have been
released under Creative Commons licenses to date, including
works by thousands of musicians, including the Beastie Boys,
the Talking Heads and Gilberto Gil.
organizational and economic structures
Like its legal structure, the music industry’s organizational
and economic structures are a somewhat hodgepodge
result of historical changes in technology, power struggles
and market forces. The industry can be seen as an ongoing
response to a single challenge: How can music be channeled from performers to consumers in a profitable way?
The financial component of this challenge traditionally has
conflicted with, and generally trumped, the creative component. In other words, the music business has been most
focused on maximizing revenues, rather than maximizing
exposure for musicians, for example, or increasing access to
music for consumers.
Despite the music industry’s emphasis on profit at the
expense of musical community, musicians typically do not
receive much of the money spent by consumers on their
music. According to entertainment law attorney and author
Chris Taylor,56 the breakdown of revenue distribution from
a typical CD sold at $19.95 is as follows:
l
l
Record label: $6.17
Retailer: $5.95
l
l
l
l
l
Manufacturing: $1.00
Distribution: $4.39 57
Producer(s): $0.44
Songwriter(s): $0.69
Artist: $1.31
Thus, the creative progenitors of a record — the
performing artists and composers — are entitled to only a
combined 10 percent of the total money spent on their music
by consumers.
While these numbers are an accurate average, they
sadly overestimate the true revenue potential for most
recording artists under the major label system. This is
because a few artists sell extremely well, while most others
sell extremely poorly. Of the 35,000 albums released in 2002
by the recording industry, fewer than 5,000 sold over 1,000
units.58 According to the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) fewer than 10 percent of albums released
ever recoup record label expenditures,59 meaning that 90
percent of recording artists never see any royalty checks
beyond their initial advances. Many recording artists are
debited tens of thousands of dollars for each month their
albums are completed after their contractual deadlines.
Also, under certain circumstances, some major labels
require their artists to repay recording costs if their projects
are canceled.60 Stacking the cards even further against
musicians is the fact that many expenditures — from the
producers’ royalties to promotional expenses to the cost of
creating a music video — are deducted routinely from the
artists’ royalties, rather than from the record labels’ piece
of the pie.61
How can the power balance between musicians and
the music industry be so one-sided? Don’t record labels
need musicians at least as much as musicians need them? In
a broad sense, the answer is yes. However, the balance of
power is tipped by the vast number of musicians hoping to
make a living through their music, and the relatively small
number of firms providing opportunities for them to do so.
Every major conduit between musicians and music
listeners in America currently is dominated by an oligopoly.
The recording industry, radio, music television, concert
venues and music retail each are controlled by a handful of
page 59
companies commanding the lion’s share of audience and
revenues. This trend only is accelerating with time. While
six “major” record labels accounted for roughly 85 percent
of American record sales a decade ago, today there are
only four.62 Radio giant Clear Channel, taking advantage
of a 1996 law that exponentially multiplied the maximum
number of radio stations one company could run, currently
owns approximately 1,200 stations throughout the United
States, including stations in 89 of the top 100 markets.63
General merchandiser Wal-Mart, which operates over 3,000
stores in the U.S., is responsible for selling approximately
one-fifth of all CDs sold in this country each year.
The massive consolidation in the music industry is
compounded by a degree of vertical integration. All of the
major record labels are part of larger corporate organizations that own music publishers, CD manufacturing plants,
electronics manufacturers, distribution companies and other
vital elements of the music supply chain. In addition to its
radio-station holdings, Clear Channel owns SFX, the largest
chain of live event venues in the country. Viacom, another
media conglomerate, owns Infinity Radio (with 185 stations)
as well as MTV, VH1 and BET — creating a near monopoly on
cable television music programming. With such entrenched
economic and organizational structures commanding a firm
grip on the means of production and distribution, it is easy
to see why the needs of the music community come as a
distant second to the needs of the industry.
The global fashion industry accounts for $495 billion
in the international trade of textiles and apparel. 64 Like
the music industry, it has endured some consolidation
as competitive pressures have forced manufacturers and
retailers to seek economies of scale. This is especially true in
the case of high-end, luxury manufacturers such as LVMH,
Gucci and Richemonde, all of which have experienced rapid
consolidation in the past decade. The fashion retail sector
also has seen a great deal of recent merger and acquisition
activity as companies aim to diversify their portfolios. As
a result there are some unlikely pairings, such as the 2004
acquisition of high-end retailer Barneys by mass consumer
brand Jones Apparel for $400 million. Manufacturers also
are starting to integrate vertically, citing better profit
margins. Thus, apparel brands as diverse as Elie Tahari, Juicy
Couture and Oscar de la Renta have started to experiment
with retailing.65
However, in contrast to the music industry and despite
these developments, the apparel industry still is fairly
distributed and diverse, and remains horizontally structured, with the continued separate manufacture of textiles
and the manufacture of clothing. There is no such thing
as a “typical” fashion enterprise — the sector consists of a
broad spectrum of companies in apparel, textile and accessories ranging from the high-end couture houses to massproduced, low-priced commodity goods.66
The supply chain in the fashion industry also is somewhat complicated, with multiple layers and organizational
inefficiencies. In the transformation from design and
product development to raw material to fabric to the
apparel manufacturer to wholesale distributors and finally
to retailers, there are multiple points for conflict and
redundancy, often causing problems for manufacturers and
retailers, such as the overstocking and understocking of
items. As a result, the response to market needs traditionally
has been somewhat slow.
There is not a single standard supply chain for the
fashion industry. Manufacturing and distribution methods
vary depending on the type of product. For example, haute
couture designers such as Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent
choose the fabric and design of their collections, which
then are produced in relatively small quantities in their
own workshops. Distribution also is limited and controlled,
usually through the designer’s own retail outlets or small,
independent fashion boutiques.
In contrast, for more common mass brands, as well as
the bridge lines67 from designers, the design and manufacture processes are more industrial and prices tend to
be much lower. Distribution takes place through highend specialty chains and some department stores. Basic
commodity apparel tends to be designed, produced and
marketed for a mass audience through distributors such as
general retail chains like Wal-Mart, lower-end department
stores like JC Penney and specialty chains like the Gap.
In an effort to be more competitive and responsive
to consumer desires, vertically integrated specialty chains,
such as H&M and Zara, recently have emerged. The concept
— sometimes called “fast fashion” (an allusion to both the
standardized supply chain and a degree of disposability akin
to fast food) — was developed in Europe to boost consumption while hedging against uncertain consumer demand. The
goal is to produce short-cycle fashion products as quickly as
possible in relatively small quantities. The products are often
trendy and typically aimed at teenagers and young women,
although this demographic may change with the recent
success of Karl Lagerfeld’s collection for H&M.
The critical component of fast fashion is the ability to
identify and track apparel trends quickly and marry this
knowledge to the supply chain, producing new products
in an abbreviated time frame. Zara’s headquarters in Spain
house its designers, factories and distribution center all in
one space. Thus the company is able to respond to consumer
demand immediately, turning over its inventory in a matter
of weeks rather than months. As a result, the Zara shopper
drops into the store an average of 17 times a year, resulting
in added sales.68 Digital technologies, just-in-time manufacturing techniques and vertical integration of the supply
chain all are vital to the success of fast fashion.
In summary, despite the fundamental similarities
between the creative communities at the heart of music and
fashion, the two industries have evolved very differently,
producing radically divergent legal, financial and organizational structures. Music has become a highly speculative
industry, depending upon a fraction of its products to
generate the vast majority of its revenues and all of its profit
margin. Consequently, it has had to reduce risk through
massive corporate consolidation, limited product diversity
and a broadening array of intellectual property controls. In
contrast, fashion, with a lower cost of doing business and
a shorter lag time between conception and execution than
music,69 benefits from the diversity of products engendered
by a decentralized industry. Additionally, the industry
largely eschews the costly and cumbersome apparatus of
intellectual property litigation in favor of a reputationbased system to ensure “fair play.”70
Yet many of the most ingrained aspects of the music
and fashion industries exist as a result of the technological
and economic realities that shaped them. As we have
mentioned, one of the most-used copyrights in music still
is referred to as a “mechanical,” although the mechanical
piano, for which it was named, waned in popularity nearly
a century ago. With continued technological and social
advancement, will these industries have an opportunity,
or even a mandate, to undergo fundamental structural
changes? In order to answer this question, we must examine
the ways in which forces like digital technology and globalization are influencing music and fashion today.
music in the digital age
Digital technologies have had a monumental impact on
music culture and the music industry. Indeed, the advances
made over the last 10 years are perhaps the most revolutionary of any since the advent of recorded sound more
than a century ago. The primary change is the fact that, for
the first time in history, music can be produced, distributed
and consumed all on the same platform — the personal
computer. Within the digital universe composed of PCs, the
Internet, mobile phones, MP3 players, CD burners and other
related technologies, music has become almost completely
free and unfettered, a species of pure information that
can be audited, edited and redistributed with the click of
a button. This fact challenges nearly all of the assumptions
previously held about music as a creative community, a
commercial product or a system of institutions.
The digital music revolution has had a profound effect
on the way music as an art form is conceived and created.
All musical expression is composed of a unique sequence
of fundamental sound elements, much as a sentence is a
unique sequence of words. Typically, the sound elements
define the limits of musical expression, while the sequence
is the locus of innovation. For the last 400 years, nearly
all music in Western society has been based on a set of
elements called the tempered chromatic scale — the notes
described by the keys on a piano. Until recent decades, every
song in every style — from Bach’s fugues to Miles Davis’
extended improvisations — relied upon new reconfigurations of this now-ancient musical lexicon.
Today, the musical lexicon has broadened far beyond
the limits of the piano keyboard to encompass the universe
of recorded sound. Audio samples have augmented and
replaced musical notes as the new building blocks for compo-
page 61
sition and improvisation, astoundingly expanding music’s
aesthetic horizons. To be sure, this advancement preceded
digital technology by a few decades. Academic musicians
like John Cage and Alvin Lucier, as well as pioneering dub
reggae and hip-hop producers such as Lee “Scratch” Perry,
DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash, used analog recording
technology to paint sound pictures with samples. However,
until the advent of digital music, these were fairly arcane
practices, requiring a degree of interest and expertise
beyond the scope of more traditional instruments.
Today the tools of audio sequencing and remixing are
as accessible as the keys of a piano or the strings of a guitar.
With minimal effort, any PC owner can use free and intuitive software to make new music entirely from pieces of
other music and sound. This fact has changed the shape and
practices of the creative community. As we argued earlier,
there always has been a significant gray area between the
opposing roles of producer and consumer. However, the
limitations of pre-digital music technology reinforced this
distinction, defining producers as those with the instruments and recording studios, and consumers as those with
discs in their hands and electronic devices with which to
listen to them. The digital age has brought about a collision of production and consumption technologies and the
liberation of music from physical products. These developments have in turn enabled a consequent collision between
the roles of producer and consumer, and the liberation of
the musical community from the strictures of these roles.
We don’t mean to suggest that digital technologies
have returned us magically to a pre-feudal communitarian
state in which everyone was a musician. Clearly this is not
the case. On the whole, the changes have been more subtle.
For many music fans, digital technology simply means
greater access to a larger library of music, and more control
over how to listen to it. However, the power of digital
technologies enables “creative consumption,” in which
consumers apply aesthetic skill and discretion to such activities as constructing the perfect playlist or recommending
music to other fans.
For many musicians, digital technology paves the way
to improve the sound of their traditional instruments in
the recording studio and to lower the cost of the recording
process. And for everyone involved in music, the bottom
line is the same — digital technology allows more people
to have more access to more music, and more power over it.
In other words, it has created a vaster, exponentially richer
music commons.
These changes also represent a challenge to the
traditional ways in which the music industry has conducted
business. When recorded music was attached to physical
objects like CDs and cassettes, it possessed two qualities that economists refer to as rivalry (meaning only one
person or group can use one resource at a time) and excludability (meaning that a person or group can be prevented
from accessing a resource). According to standard economic
theory, resources that are both rival and excludable fall
under the category of “private goods,” best treated
as property and exploited through the market system.
However, when music was decoupled from physical delivery
mechanisms, it ceased to be either rival or excludable, recategorizing it as a “public good.” Public goods notoriously
are difficult to profit from via traditional market practices;
rather, they tend to be managed by governmental or nonprofit entities.71
It is easy to understand how the traditional music
economy suddenly has been rendered obsolete. The
best strategy the music industry can follow if it hopes to
continue profiting from the distribution of music somehow
is to tie its newly non-rival, non-excludable goods to other
rival and excludable goods or services. This is no doubt the
rationale behind the music industry’s well-advised recent
support for new distribution models like online music
subscriptions and its increased enthusiasm for licensing
popular songs to video games and other entertainment
product categories.72
The industry’s loss of physical control over the distribution and use of music has had other significant effects
as well. One major development is a renewed focus on
intellectual property as a blunt but powerful instrument of
legal control, which has become most visible – and possibly
most absurd — in the prosecution of music consumers who
share files over the Internet. At the time of this writing,
nearly 7,000 individuals had been targeted by the RIAA for
participating in peer-to-peer communities,73 one of the
Audio samples have
replaced musical
notes as the new
building blocks for
composition and
improvisation.
most prominent manifestations of the new digital music
commons.
Ironically, as intellectual property has played an
increasingly central role in the music industry’s control
apparatus, copyright law also has become increasingly
difficult to apply to music. Remember that copyright only
protects the expression of ideas, rather than the ideas
themselves. As Vaidhyanathan argues, the digitization and
networking of music undermines this central “idea/expression dichotomy,”74 raising questions about what protections
legitimately can be enforced.
There also has been an erosion of the concept of a
copyrighted “work.” Copyright originally was conceived as a
way to protect entire compositions or scores. Even with the
advent of the sound recording copyright in 1972, the law
commonly was applied to complete songs or albums. With
the rise of sampling as a compositional technique in recent
decades, the American legal system has struggled to maintain a clear sense of where public goods end and distinctive
property begins.
Two recent court decisions demonstrate the lack of
resolution of these issues. In September 2004, a federal
appeals court judge ruled that a song by N.W.A.,75 which
included an unlicensed two-second sample of Funkadelic’s
“Get Off Your Ass and Jam,” violated the sound recording
copyright. This ruling overturned a lower court decision
that had argued the sample was so short it didn’t constitute theft.76 However, in November 2004, another federal
appeals court judge addressing a different suit supported
the argument that a six-second sample of a James Newton
song by the Beastie Boys was “not sufficient to sustain a
claim for infringement” of a composition copyright.77
How can it be that the two-second sample violates
copyright while the six-second sample does not?
Theoretically, the distinction exists because one case is based
on the sound recording copyright, while the other is based
on the composition copyright. But does it make any sense
for a fragment of a recording to constitute infringement,
while a fragment of a composition does not? This inconsistency perfectly demonstrates the difficulty (perhaps the
impossibility) of applying laws based on an analog universe
to the new digital reality. As scholars such as Vaidhyanathan
and Lawrence Lessig have argued, this ambiguity actually
may work to the benefit of the music industry and to the
detriment of musical culture. The threat to traditional business practices provides a convenient rationale for corporations that thrive on intellectual property protections to push
for ever tighter controls over the use of creative material
— essentially shrinking the size and scope of the commons.
fashion in the digital age
If digital technology defines the current era for music,
globalization defines it for fashion. The growing web
of communications networks bringing the world closer
together radically has redefined the ways in which fashion
designers interact, trends spread throughout the world and
the fashion industry organizes itself.
The impact of digital technologies has been far less
earth-shattering on the fashion industry than on the music
industry, as digital advancements drastically have eroded
the music’s economic and organization structures. Digital
technologies have made the distribution of fashion design
images instantaneous, and broadened their reach. They
also have helped accelerate the production and distribution cycles for lower-priced, trendy, commodity goods, as
evidenced in the discussion of H&M and Zara. However,
unlike music, which now is divorced from any physical
product, apparel and accessories have not entered fully into
the virtual realm (thankfully, we’ve heeded our childhood
morality tales of emperors and their clothes). Certainly,
some avant-garde designers and computer engineers are
attempting to fuse apparel and consumer technology, but
these experiments still are relegated to the margins, more at
home in museums and universities than on the street.
Thus, while music has been transformed from a tangible
product into a digital one, fashion remains a utilitarian,
physical good. Technology may accelerate fashion’s business
processes, produce new ways of cutting patterns or develop
a more breathable alternative to polyester, but it doesn’t
divorce the expression of the design from the design itself.
Fashion is tactile and physical, necessarily rival and excludable,
an indelible fact of its creation that separates it from music.
Technology also creates a living archive of design, ideas
and styles in the microscopic chronicling of the fashion
page 63
industry by the media. It creates the opportunity for broader
“sampling,” as seen in the rapid production of Academy
Awards dress knockoffs, but it is also a valuable tool for
the social regulation of “theft,” as described in the case of
Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga. As one journalist notes:
Designers have always looked to the past for inspiration;
most famously, Christian Dior based his landmark New
Look collection on memories of his mother, but in those
days the past was not so minutely archived by the media
and he could pass the belle époque off as his own.78
The major change caused by digital technologies in
fashion today is its globalization, which has drastically
increased the already high tempo of the fashion world
— accelerating production and consumption, and shortening
the shelf life of trends. However, digital technologies also
have a paradoxically inverse effect — sustaining the longterm shelf life of products and designs that may have disappeared much more quickly into fashion’s fickle ether. Also
thanks to new technologies and communications networks,
the traditional dichotomy between consumer and producer,
already fragile in America since the 1960s, has deteriorated
even further. Fashion consumers, like music fans, have
become much more adept at creative consumption, mixing
high and low to create new street trends. Fashion consumers
today think nothing of combining a Chanel jacket with Levi’s
jeans, Converse sneakers and a Hermès Birkin bag. Similarly,
music fans increasingly are likely to combine several songs
and albums into larger playlists, often played in “shuffle”
mode,79 creating a controlled chaos in which R&B, opera and
Celtic jigs may rub shoulders, producing unexpected and
often aesthetically gratifying results.
Clothing at one time served the exclusive purpose of
shielding people from the elements — keeping us warm
in colder climates, protecting us from the sun in tropical
climates. With our current control over our physical environment — thanks to air-conditioning, indoor heating
and commuting — our exposure to the elements is greatly
reduced. As a result, traditional designs originally produced
to protect their wearers, like those with socially denotative
functions from other cultures, can be appropriated in new
reconfigurations, detached from their original meaning or
intent. Globalization, with its ever expanding circulation of
images, defines this practice. Suddenly, images of apparel,
both traditional and new, high end and low, are available
effortlessly and instantaneously. The fashion industry and
community borrow freely from this global circulation of
images, remixing and reconfiguring them in a persistent and
expanding commons.
conclusion
Music and fashion, two creative communities that share
much in common, have evolved over time to produce
drastically different industries. Both communities thrive
on innovation and change, spurred by the mechanisms of
reconfiguration, reinterpretation and reappropriation.
Both are sustained by an ever growing commons, a living
archive of all that has come before. Yet music suffers from
a fundamental schism separating many of the needs of the
creative community and consumers from the needs of the
industry that enables and exploits it. Fashion, by contrast,
has succeeded in brokering a working balance between
aesthetic and financial mandates.
The causes for music’s malaise can be traced to the
industry’s economic foundations and are compounded by
the changes wrought through new digital technologies. An
exceedingly high cost of doing business, low success rate and
disproportionate balance between the cost of producing
demand and supply all have conspired to make the industry
risk-averse.80 The industry currently operates through
concentrated ownership structures, vertically integrated business organizations and fiercely protective attitudes toward
intellectual property rights. In an age when new technologies
have lowered the costs of production and distribution while
decoupling musical expression from any physical media, the
industry must re-evaluate its most deeply held practices and
assumptions or face almost certain dissolution.
Fashion provides a tantalizing example of what the
music industry could be under different circumstances. In
the absence of thick copyright protection, the dividing line
between influence and theft is maintained through a social
apparatus of shame and an aesthetic tradition of transparency. Meanwhile, with historically lower barriers to entry, the
In order to avert a
catastrophic turn of
events, the music
industry would do
well to heed some of
the fashion industry’s
basic creative,
organizational and
legal tenets.
fashion industry has proven resistant thus far to corporate consolidation on the scale of the music industry.
Given its present imperative to reassess its core
principles, what, if anything, can music learn from
fashion? The answers have ramifications far beyond
the scope of the music industry, if, as some suggest,
music represents the proverbial canary in the coalmine
for similar industries ranging from film to television to
computer software.81
During the 1990s, many hoped the efficiencies of
digital distribution would provide an opportunity for
new and innovative companies to pose a significant
challenge to the established record labels. However,
these dreams were dashed by the growing expense of
marketing and promotion in the face of new communications channels and the resolute inflexibility of
a music industry wary of change. In the subsequent
years, the only large-scale solution the music industry
has sought for its social, economic and organization
problems has been the increasingly stringent interpretation and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Clearly, this policy cannot continue without dire
consequences. At some point, the aggressive controls
the music industry seeks over the behaviors of both
musicians and listeners will stifle aesthetic innovation
(or force it entirely underground), and alienate its
own consumer base. In order to avert such a catastrophic turn of events, the music industry would
do well to heed some of the fashion industry’s basic
creative, organizational and legal tenets. Specifically,
the industry could adopt thinner copyright protections, vertically disintegrate, and work with the
creative community to inculcate a culture of transparency and accountability. In an environment tailored
to innovation and change, rather than enforced
inertia, perhaps products and services could emerge
that would appeal to consumers despite the nonrival, non-excludable nature of digital music.
To be sure, the music industry already has made
some intelligent moves in this direction. Labels and
publishers recently have increased their efforts to
license recorded music to movies, television, video
games and other secondary media channels, effectively shifting a larger portion of their revenues from
a business-to-consumer model to a more reliable
business-to-business model. Additionally, after years
of institutional resistance to new consumer-oriented
business models, the major labels recently have exhibited enthusiasm for digital music services, following
the unexpected consumer success of Apple’s iTunes
Music Store. While it is a move in the right direction,
this was a reactive, rather than a proactive change.
A major structural reorganization and consumer
education marketing campaign would have to be
undertaken before digital music subscriptions and
other service-based alternatives to traditional music
products can achieve dominance in this industry.
Unfortunately, the music industry is unlikely
to undergo such major structural change until it is
forced. Vested interests tend to entrench themselves
even as the ground they stand on turns to quicksand. A more likely future for the music industry is
increasing antagonism between sellers and buyers,
and increasing homogeneity in the music market, until
the entire system breaks under the strain. If and when
this finally comes to pass, the musical community may
have an unprecedented opportunity to start over
from scratch, building a new industry on the ashes of
the old. Fashion provides a promising, if imperfect,
blueprint for the job. w
page 65
author biographies
MARISSA GLUCK
Marissa Gluck is a Principal in Radar Research, providing marketing insights and consulting services
to the media, entertainment and technology industries. Prior to co-founding Radar, she was the
Senior Analyst at Jupiter Research in the advertising and marketing practices, covering advertising
technologies, email marketing, agencies and media buying. In addition to conceiving and producing
studies focused on online marketing and revenue strategies, she led strategy sessions with senior
executives from clients such as Interpublic, Doubleclick and CBS. Before joining Jupiter, Gluck was
the research and emerging technologies specialist at online advertising agency i-traffic, producing
strategic analysis of potential client partnerships and integrated sponsorships for clients such as
Eddie Bauer, HSN and Disney. Frequently quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The
New York Times and Ad Age, Gluck has appeared on CNN, CBS and NPR, among other media outlets.
She earned two master’s degrees in global communication from the London School of Economics
and the University of Southern California, and received a B.A. in art history at SUNY-Binghamton.
ARAM SINNREICH
Aram Sinnreich is a writer, speaker and analyst covering the media and entertainment industries,
with a special focus on music. Named “Innovator and Influencer” by InformationWeek, Sinnreich
frequently is quoted in publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, Billboard and The Wall
Street Journal, and has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, The CBS Early Show with Bryant
Gumbel, CNN, CNBC, BBC Radio and Fuji TV. He presented prize-winning research at the annual
conference of the National Communication Association in Chicago and at the 32nd Research
Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy (www.tprc.org/TPRC04/2004.htm)
in Arlington, Virginia. Sinnreich has served as an expert witness in court cases including MetroGoldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., et al. v. Grokster, Ltd., et al. (now before the U.S. Supreme Court) and
RealNetworks, Inc. v. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. He has written about music and the media industry
for publications including The New York Times, Billboard and Wired, as well as the academic journal
American Quarterly. As a Senior Analyst at Jupiter Research in New York (1997-2002), he produced
research reports covering the online music and media industries, and provided hands-on strategic
consulting to companies ranging from Time Warner to Microsoft to Heineken. Sinnreich writes and
performs music as bassist for groups including ska-punk band Agent 99 and dancehall reggae queen
Ari Up, and as co-founder of NYC soul group Brave New Girl, jazz band MK4, and Los Angeles
dub-and-bass band Dubistry (www.dubistry.com). Two songs he composed for Brave New Girl were
licensed to MTV’s animated series Daria. Sinnreich earned a B.A. in English at Wesleyan University
and received an M.S. in journalism at Columbia University. He is currently a doctoral fellow and
lecturer at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. w
endnotes
1 Much of the information on DJ Z-Trip’s relationship with Hollywood Records was relayed
personally by current Billboard journalist Bill
Werde, who at the time of publication was in
the process of reporting and writing about
the story for Rolling Stone.
2 Mash-up artist Osymyso, for instance, has
produced a popular track called “Introinspection” that incorporates samples from
101 separate songs.
3 Personal email communication with mashup artist, October 2003. He asked to be
quoted anonymously.
4 Jacques Attali, Noise: The Political Economy
of Music, translated by Brian Massumi,
original work published 1977 (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1985), 141.
5 WM Ferguson, “The Mainstream Mash-Up,”
New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004.
6 Bill Werde. Personal email communication,
December 2004.
7 Werde, “DJ Z-Trip: Switching Gears,”review
of Shifting Gears album by DJ Z-Trip,
RollingStone.com, April 21, 2005. [www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_ /id/7237718/
djztrip]
8 Siva Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and
Copywrongs (New York: New York University
Press, 2001). According to the author, “thick”
copyright law prizes protection over accessibility with features such as long durations,
stringent prohibitions and harsh penalties.
“Thin” law, by contrast, takes the opposite
tack, emphasizing accessibility over protection.
9 Inez Brooks-Myers. Personal telephone
communication, November 2004.
10 Cathy Horyn, “Is Copying Really a Part
of the Creative Process?” New York Times,
April 9, 2002.
11 Cameron Silver. Personal interview,
December 2004.
12 Fashion sales figures for 2004. Apparel
Magazine, 2004. Retrieved online Jan. 12,
2005. Subscription-only link; “The Recording
Industry of America’s 2003 yearend statistics.” RIAA Web site, 2004. Retrieved online
Jan. 12, 2005. [www.riaa.com/news/news
letter/pdf/2003yearEnd.pdf]
Brilliant color and draping from an earlier
era translate into modern elegance.
page 67
Essays: Music and Fashion
13 Anthony McCann,”Beyond the Term
‘Music’,” presented at the annual conference of the American Anthropological
Association, New Orleans, November 2004;
Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy (New
York: Routledge, 2002).
14 Samuel Butler, The Odyssey of Homer
(New York: Classics Club by W. J. Black, 1944).
15 Ian Cross, “Music, Cognition, Culture and
Evolution,” Annals of the New York Academy
of Sciences, 930, 2001: 28-42; Yim-Chi Ho,
Mei-Chun Cheung and Agnes S. Chan. “Music
Training Improves Verbal But not Visual
Memory: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal
Explorations in Children.” 17(3)
Neuropsychology, 2003, 439-450.
16 Attali, 6.
17 Keith Roe, “Swedish Youth and Music:
Listening Patterns and Motivations,” 12(3)
Communication Research, 1985, 353-362;
Peter. G. Christenson and Donald F. Roberts,
It’s Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music
in the Lives of Adolescents (Cresskill, NJ:
Hampton Press, 1998).
18 Diana Crane, Fashion and Its Social
Agendas (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2000).
19 Maggie Secara, Elizabethan Sumptuary
Statutes, 2001. Retrieved online Nov. 11,
2004. [www.renaissance.dm.net/sumptuary]
20 Crane, 11.
21 Leonard B. Meyer, Emotion and Meaning
in Music (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1961), 1.
22 Attali.
23 Lucy Green, How Popular Musicians Learn
(Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2002).
24 For a thorough and hilarious review of
reactionary screeds in the world of European
classical music, see Nicolas Slonimsky, Lexicon
of Musical Invective, 2nd ed. (New York:
Coleman-Ross, 1965).
25 CD liner notes for Tuvan vocal group
Huun-Huur-Tu. [www.huunhuurtu.com/CD
liners.html]
26 Hugo de Jager, “Some Sociological
Remarks on Innovation in Music,” 3(2)
International Review of the Aesthetics and
Sociology of Music, 1972, 252-258.
27 Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: How Big
Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock
Down Culture and Control Creativity (New
York: Penguin, 2004); David Bollier, Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common
Wealth (New York: Routledge, 2002).
28 Thomas Owens, Bebop: The Music and Its
Players (New York: Oxford University Press,
1995).
29 Chris Dobrian, Music and Language,
University of California, Irvine, Dept. of
Music Web site, 1992. Retrieved online
Nov. 15, 2004. [music.arts.uci.edu/dobrian/
CD.music.lang.htm]; Tony Brown and Les
Tomkins, “Summit Meeting — Parts 1 and
2,” transcript of an interview with Buddy
Rich, Maynard Ferguson and Jack Parnell,
conducted in London, England, in 1970,
JazzProfessional.com, undated. Retrieved
online Nov. 15, 2004.
[www.jazzprofessional.com/Summit/Rich
ParnellFergusonSummit_1.htm]; Alexandra
A. Seno, “Unforgettable,” Asia Week, Aug.
29, 1997. Retrieved online Nov. 15, 2004.
[www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0829/nat7.
html]
30 Vincent B. Leitch, “Costly Compensations:
Postmodern Fashion, Politics, Identity,”
Modern Fiction Studies, Spring 1996, 111.
31 Saskia Sassen, The Global City (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2001).
32 Richard Wheeler. Personal telephone
communication. October 2004.
33 Attali, 15.
34 Eileen Southern, The Music of Black
Americans, 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 1983),
7.
35 Attali, 15.
36 Attali, 52.
37 Vaidhyanathan, 12.
38 Kim Cascone, “Laptop Music —
Counterfeiting Aura in the Age of Infinite
Reproduction,” 107 Parachute, 2002,
52-59; “Cost of a CD.” RIAA Web site, 2003.
Retrieved online Nov. 15, 2004. [www.riaa.
com/news/marketingdata/cost.asp]
39 Attali.
40 Crane, 4.
41 Crane, 5.
42 There are some exceptions: The more
extreme haute couture, experimental fashion
and wearable technology could be argued to
serve no functional requirement and make
the claim of “art for art’s sake.”
43 Vaidhyanathan.
44 Originally, copyrights were granted for
14-year terms, with the potential for a single
14-year renewal. Currently, copyrights are
granted for the life of the author plus 70
years — a potential term of 150 years or
more.
45 James Boyle, “The Second Enclosure
Movement and the Construction of
the Public Domain,” 66(1) Law and
Contemporary Problems, 2003, 33-74; Lessig;
Vaidhyanathan.
46 M. William Krasilovsky and Sidney Shemel,
This Business of Music, 7th ed. (New York:
Billboard Books, 1995).
47 Jennifer Mencken, “A Design for the
Copyright of Fashion,” posted to the
Intellectual Property and Technology Forum
at Boston College Law School Web site, Dec.
12, 1997. Retrieved online Nov. 19, 2004.
[www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/
articles/content/1997121201.html]
48 Barbara Ringer, “The Unfinished Business
of Copyright Revision,” 24 UCLA Law Review,
1977, 951-976.
49 This is the result of a single extension in
1995, from an original term of 17 years.
50 Gold Seal Importers v. Morris White
Fashions, Inc., 124 F.2d 141, 142 (2d Cir. 1941).
51 There have been some notable exceptions
engendered by technological development.
Thus, certain components of garments, such
as zippers and Velcro closures, have been
awarded patents, but these components are
considered enabling technologies with uses
beyond fashion, rather than the product of
fashion’s creative community.
52 Mencken.
53 GNU Project Web site. [www.gnu.org]
54 Richard Stallman, “The GNU Operating
System and the Free Software Movement,”
from Open Sources: Voices From the Open
Source Revolution, eds. Chris DiBona, Sam
Ockman and Mark Stone (Sebastopol, CA:
O’Reilly, 1999), 59.
55 Creative Commons Web site.
[www.creativecommons.org]
56 Chris Taylor, “Where The Money Goes:
A Breakdown of the $19.95,” published
on Sanderson Taylor Web site, undated.
Retrieved online Nov. 15, 2004.[www.sander
sontaylor.com/article-load.php?id=t14]; for
an entertaining and detailed analysis of
record industry revenue breakdown, see
Steve Albini, “The Problem With Music,”
published on NegativWorldWideWebLand
Web site, undated. Retrieved online Nov. 15,
2004. [www.negativland.com/albini.html]
57 Manufacturing and distribution companies
often are owned by the same corporate
parent as the record label.
58 Peter Spellman, “The Future of Music
Careers: Quantum Career Development in
an [sic] Transforming Industry,” published
on Future of Music Coalition Web site, March
2003. Retrieved online Nov. 15, 2004.
[www.futureofmusic.org/articles/spellman
musicianbiz.cfm]
59 RIAA, 2003.
60 Personal email communication with music
industry attorney Jonathan Zavin, December
2004.
61 Andrea Goode Barber, “Analysis of a
Recording Contract,” published on StarPolish
Artist Advice Web site, undated. Retrieved
online Nov. 15, 2004. [www.starpolish.
com/advice/article.asp?id=113]
62 Today’s four major labels are Universal,
EMI, Warner and Sony BMG. Universal
acquired a fifth major label, Polygram, in
1998. Sony BMG is a joint venture between
two previously separate major labels.
63 “Clear Channel Radio Fact Sheet,”
published on Clear Channel Web site,
undated. Retrieved online Nov. 15, 2004.
[www.clearchannel.com/fact_sheets/radio_
factsheet.pdf]
64 Elizabeth Becker, “Textile Quotas to
End Soon, Punishing Carolina Mill Towns,”
New York Times, Nov. 2, 2004. The fashion
industry’s decentralized structure, diverse
product range and idiosyncratic practices
make it far more difficult to detail financially
than the music industry. Consequently, this
figure conflicts with some other published
estimates. This also has prevented us from
providing a detailed breakdown of fashion
revenue distribution akin to our music
industry analysis.
65 “Berns Communications Group Unveils
2005 Retail Strategies Noted by Leading
Industry Experts,” Berns Communications
Group press release, published on Business
Wire, Dec. 6, 2004.
66 Peter Doeringer and Sarah Crean, Can
Fast Fashion Save the US Apparel Industry?,
unpublished manuscript, 2004. This section
is highly indebted to the authors for their
thorough explanation and analysis of “fast
fashion.”
67 Bridge lines are the lower-priced, higher
sales-volume (and generally more profitable) lines by higher-end designers. Some
examples of popular bridge lines include
Ralph Lauren’s Polo, Donna Karan’s DKNY
and Calvin Klein’s CK.
68 “Store Wars: Fast Fashion,” report related
to three-part special featured on the
BBC2 television series Money Programme,
published on Money Programme Web site,
Feb. 18, 2003. Retrieved online Nov. 20, 2004.
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/
3086669.stm]
69 The music industry’s longer lag time
compared to fashion is due to its disproportionate investment in the production of
demand (i.e., marketing and promotion) and
its lack of seasonal and cyclical deadlines,
rather than any complexity regarding
production or design processes.
70 We do not mean to suggest this system
is without its flaws. Like any of system of
regulation, it can suffer from an asymmetrical balance of power, and in many cases
lesser-known, independent designers are not
afforded the same privileges as established
designers.
71 Paul M. Johnson, A Glossary of Political
Economy Terms, published on Auburn
University Web site, 1994-2005. Retrieved
online Nov. 15, 2004. [www.auburn.
edu/~johnspm/gloss]
72 Aram Sinnreich, “File Sharing: To Preserve
Music Market Value, Look Beyond Easy
Scapegoats,” (New York: Jupiter Research,
2002).
73 David McGuire, “D.C. College Students
Targeted in Piracy Suit,” WashingtonPost.
com, Nov. 18, 2004. [www.washingtonpost.
com/wp-dyn/articles/A60606-2004Nov18.
html]
74 Vaidhyanathan.
75 The song initially was released in 1990. This
considerable legal lag time further demonstrates the inadequacy of the legal system
to cope with accelerating technological and
aesthetic changes.
76 Susan Butler, “Court Ruling Could Chill
Sample Use,” Billboard, Sept. 18, 2004.
Available on MSNBC.com. [www.msnbc.msn.
com/id/5964507]
77 “Beastie Boys Win Court Ruling,” Los
Angeles Times, Nov. 10, 2004.
78 Charlie Porter, “Darling, You Look So
1973,” The Guardian (London Edition), April
10, 2004.
79 This trend has become so mainstream that
Apple recently released the iPod shuffle,
a portable music player tailored to this
behavior.
80 This description characterizes the music
industry as embodied by the major labels
and their chief distribution channels. It is
important to note that an entirely different
calculus may be applied to truly independent
record labels and musicians, who often
achieve economic sustainability on a far
smaller scale and are consequently far more
willing and able to take aesthetic and legal
risks.
81 Historically, the low file size and high
consumption rate of songs have interacted
with the Internet’s limited bandwidth so
that cutting-edge music applications (such
as peer-to-peer file sharing) have predated
similar applications for larger, less wieldy
media.
page 69
I
S
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Event: Over view
overview
On January 29, 2005, the Norman Lear Center held a landmark event on fashion and the ownership
of creativity. “Ready to Share: Fashion & the Ownership of Creativity” explored the fashion industry’s
enthusiastic embrace of sampling, appropriation and borrowed inspiration, core components of every
creative process. Presented by the Lear Center’s Creativity, Commerce & Culture project, funded in part by
a generous gift from the Center for the Public Domain and sponsored by The Fashion Institute of Design
& Merchandising/FIDM, this groundbreaking conference featured provocative trend forecasts, sleek
fashion shows and an eclectic mix of experts from fashion, music, TV and film. Discussion sessions covered
fashion and creativity, intellectual property law, fashion and entertainment and the future of sharing.
dvd
Highlights from the event are featured in the DVD included in this book. The DVD contains event
footage and commentary from leaders in fashion, entertainment and academia, including John Seely
Brown, Danger Mouse, Tom Ford, Michael Patrick King, Norman Lear, David Wolfe and more.
Host: Rick Karr.
more information
Video, photos and transcripts from the “Ready to Share” event, as
well as full project details, are available at: www.readytoshare.org.
For more information, please contact:
The Norman Lear Center
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281, USA
213.821.1343
enter@usc.edu | www.learcenter.org
W W W.RE
ADYTOS
HARE.OR
G
Norman Lear playfully takes
a turn on the catwalk at the
“Ready to Share” conference.
page 73
Event: Over view
participants
program
CATE ADAIR
KEVAN HALL
SHERYL LEE RALPH
Costume Designer,
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Designer, Kevan Hall Couture;
Former Design and Creative
Director for Halston
Actress, singer, director,
producer and designer
ROSE APODACA
KEVIN JONES
LAURIE RACINE
West Coast Bureau Chief,
Women’s Wear Daily
Curator, The Fashion Institute of
Design & Merchandising Museum
Senior Fellow, the Norman Lear
Center; President, Center for the
Public Domain
DAVID BOLLIER
MARTIN KAPLAN
CAMERON SILVER
Senior Fellow, the Norman
Lear Center; Author, Brand
Name Bullies
Director, the Norman Lear Center;
Associate Dean, USC Annenberg
School for Communication
President, Decades, Inc., Los Angeles
and London; Creative Consultant,
Azzaro, Paris
JOHN SEELY BROWN
RICK KARR
RANI SINGH
Former Chief Scientist,
Xerox Corporation
Television correspondent
and writer
President, Harry Smith Archives; Senior
Research Associate, Getty Research
Institute
BARBARA BUNDY
MICHAEL PATRICK KING
JONATHAN TAPLIN
VP, Education, The Fashion Institute
of Design & Merchandising/FIDM
Executive Producer,
Sex and the City (HBO)
Television and film producer;
USC Annenberg Professor
T BONE BURNETT
NORMAN LEAR
GUY TREBAY
Musician and producer
Television and
film producer
Reporter, The New York Times
TED COHEN
BOOTH MOORE
SIVA VAIDHYANATHAN
Senior VP, Digital Development
& Distribution, EMI Music
Fashion Critic,
Los Angeles Times
Professor of Culture and Communication at New York University; Author,
Copyrights and Copywrongs
DANGER MOUSE
RICHARD NICHOLS
DAVID WOLFE
Creator of the Grey Album
Producer of The Roots
Creative Director,
The Doneger Group
TOM FORD
SAM PHILLIPS
Former Creative Director for
Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent
Grammy-nominated singer
and songwriter
Welcome
Martin Kaplan
Keynote — Ready to Share, Ready to
Wear, Ready or Not!
Introduction: Martin Kaplan,
David Bollier
Keynote: David Wolfe
The fashion world is predicated on creating
“originals.” And yet, virtually all of the megamillions generated by the industry are the
result of a ripple-out effect, which is acknowledged and even encouraged, sometimes
formally and legalized, sometimes not. How
did this creative model begin? How does it
work today? An insider’s view into a fragile
ecosystem that balances creative and commercial interests, presented by David Wolfe, the
most quoted authority in the world of fashion.
Session I — The Ecology of Creativity
in Fashion
Introduction: Norman Lear
Moderator: Laurie Racine
Participants: Tom Ford, Guy Trebay
While fashion is surely about individual talent
and inspiration, it is also a collaborative enterprise that takes place within fashion houses,
among designers and across generations.
Designer Tom Ford and cultural commentator
Guy Trebay engage in a conversation about the
distinctive role of homage, open appropriation
and creative transformation in fashion.
Session II — Handing Down the Song:
Music, Ownership & the Creative Process
Moderator: Jonathan Taplin
Participants: T Bone Burnett, Danger
Mouse, Richard Nichols,
Sam Phillips, Rani Singh
This session asks leaders in the music industry to
explain how creative traditions are shared and
sustained in an industry that’s trying to lock
down ownership of creative content. Panelists
discuss how musical innovation circulates and
comment on the conflicting attitudes toward
sampling, ownership of creative work and new
models of compensation for creators.
Presentation — Fashioning the Future
From the Past
Introduction: Barbara Bundy
Participants: Kevan Hall, Kevin Jones,
L.A. Models
The glorious glamour of Kevan Hall’s Spring
2005 collection harkens to the 1930s, 1940s
and early 1950s, and recalls looks favored by
his muse, Millicent Rogers, fashion icon and
Standard Oil heiress, as well as the hand-tinted
palette of Cecil Beaton, famed British portrait
photographer. In a live fashion show, Hall’s
celebrated creations are joined on stage by
period garments that inspired them, culled
from the FIDM Museum collection. Curator
Kevin Jones and the designer focus on how
historical research inspires new style directions.
Session III — The Business of Creativity
Moderator: Martin Kaplan
Participants: Cate Adair, Ted Cohen,
Michael Patrick King,
Norman Lear, Booth Moore,
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Known for succeeding by breaking the rules,
Norman Lear and Michael Patrick King discuss
creative risk-taking in the entertainment
industry and King’s use of fashion in Sex and
the City. Following this conversation, a panel
of four veterans of the entertainment and
fashion industries respond, addressing practical
obstacles and opportunities for implementing
innovative visions in fashion, film, music and
television.
Presentation — Chanel or Fauxnel?
The Chanel Jacket … Unraveled
Participants: Cameron Silver,
Norman Lear, L.A. Models
Vintage expert Cameron Silver takes us on a
guided tour through the hall-of-mirrors history
of a fashion icon: the Chanel jacket. Reflected
in just about every fashion season since its
inception, the Chanel jacket long ago crossed
the line from couture into ready-to-wear and
has become a staple of many well-respected
collections as well as discount knockoff lines.
With models in original Chanel and knockoff
interpretations, Silver reviews the history of the
design, its unique place in the fashion lexicon
and Chanel’s perspective on what it perceives as
the abuse of the brand.
Session IV — The Future of Sharing:
Content and Creativity in the Digital Age
Moderator: Rick Karr
Participants: John Seely Brown,
Ted Cohen, Jonathan Taplin,
Siva Vaidhyanathan, David Wolfe
Fashion has built a rich tradition around the
appropriation and sharing of creativity, a
dynamic that has enabled it to evolve constantly
and rapidly while remaining globally competitive. A great many new digital media appear to
incorporate this perspective by facilitating and
celebrating the creative reuse of existing works.
In this concluding panel, leaders in academia,
industry and the arts discuss the implications of
emulating the fashion model — exploring how
and why other industries and innovators might
adopt or reject fashion’s modus operandi — and
speculate on the future of different creative
sectors and how ownership and compensation
models may change.
Presentation — Out on Top:
The T-shirt, From Fashion Essential
to Revolutionary Icon
Participant: Rose Apodaca
It might still serve us as a comfortable basic,
but the T-shirt’s storied evolution as a statement and staple of emancipation, creativity,
commerce and fashion makes it the single most
important article of clothing in our collective
closets. T-shirts serve as banners of rebellion
and uniforms of inclusiveness. They have been
interpreted, altered and morphed in more ways
than anyone can count — and they continue to
be reinvented in ways that can comment on,
complement and even shape the culture.
Closing
Martin Kaplan, David Bollier
page 75
Event: Highlights and Photos
highlights and photos
1. Lear Center Senior
Fellow Laurie Racine
3
2. Actress Sheryl Lee
Ralph and Desperate
Housewives costume
designer Cate Adair
3. Designer Tom Ford
and New York Times
fashion reporter Guy
Trebay
2
1
4. Tom Ford
7
5
5. Lear Center
Director Martin
Kaplan and Senior
Fellow David Bollier
6. The Roots
producer Richard
Nichols
7. Keynote speaker
and trend guru
David Wolfe
6
9
8. Journalist
Rick Karr
4
9. EMI Music’s
Ted Cohen and
Los Angeles Times
Fashion Critic
Booth Moore
8
10. FIDM VP
of Education
Barbara Bundy
10
11
12
13
11. Media technology scholars John
Seely Brown and Siva
Vaidhyanathan with
David Wolfe
12. Vintage clothier
Cameron Silver
13. Norman Lear
As part of his keynote — “Ready to Share, Ready to Wear,
Ready or Not!” — America’s foremost fashion trend forecaster David Wolfe announced the demise of youth-oriented
celebrity culture and the rise of “deluxe minimalism,” which
he predicted will appeal to well-to-do baby boomers.
During an investigation of “The Ecology of Creativity,”
designer Tom Ford said he was flattered by knockoffs of his
work — although Gucci, where he served as creative director,
was not so pleased — as he discussed his creative process and
his own practice of homage. Timely predictions came from
The New York Times’ Guy Trebay, who anticipates a rise in
limited editions from the premiere fashion houses that are
struggling against piracy.
Discussing “Handing Down the Song: Music, Ownership
& the Creative Process,” archivist Rani Singh provided background on the free-form sharing of folk music, as renowned
producer T Bone Burnett railed against the outdated practices
of the music industry. The Roots producer Richard Nichols
maintained that sampling is here to stay while mash-ups
may be a passing trend. In an ironic twist, Danger Mouse,
the creative force behind the illegal mash-up of Jay-Z’s
Black Album and The Beatles’ White Album, admitted his
initial anxiety about the release of the Grey Video, an illegal
mash-up of Jay-Z footage and Beatles footage, set to Danger
Mouse’s mix. Impressed by the Grey Album, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Sam Phillips asked Danger Mouse to
“please mash me!”
In “Fashioning the Future From the Past,” FIDM Museum
Curator Kevin Jones led famed Los Angeles designer Kevan
Hall in a live fashion showcase of his glamorous Spring 2005
collection, accented on stage by period garments that inspired
him, which were culled from the FIDM Museum archives.
Television innovator Norman Lear discussed some of
the riskier creative choices he made in his legendary career,
such as allowing Archie Bunker to sing “God Bless America”
without legal clearance, and writer-producer Michael Patrick
King explained how fashion — and Manolo Blahnik shoes, in
particular — became a leading character in Sex and the City.
The two continued their conversation on “The Business of
Creativity,”joined by Desperate Housewives costume designer
Cate Adair, EMI Music’s Ted Cohen, Los Angeles Times Fashion
Critic Booth Moore, and Tony-winning actress and director
Sheryl Lee Ralph; the group shared a revealing talk on the
fashion-entertainment nexus.
Vintage clothier Cameron Silver, named one of TIME
magazine’s “25 Most Influential Names and Faces in
Fashion,” produced a unique live fashion show presentation
on the evolution of the Chanel jacket and its many imitators.
In “Chanel or Fauxnel? A Legendary Jacket … Unraveled,”
Silver ultimately challenged the audience — and notably,
host Norman Lear, who took a turn on the catwalk — to
differentiate the knockoffs from the originals.
In “The Future of Sharing: Content and Creativity in
the Digital Age,” former Xerox PARC director John Seely
Brown considered the correspondence between creativity
in fashion and digital entertainment, and the dissonance
between new creative technologies and historic copyright
norms. USC Annenberg professor Jonathan Taplin argued
for the establishment of reasonable “mechanical” licenses
to pay for the use or sampling of pre-existent creative
works, and David Wolfe noted the impact of technology
on fashion’s already fast-paced world. In the digital environment, the only thing worse than being sampled, concluded
NYU’s Siva Vaidhyanathan, paraphrasing Oscar Wilde, “is not
being sampled.”
Women’s Wear Daily’s West Coast Bureau Chief Rose
Apodaca toured the evolution of the tee from wooly undergarment to couture fashion statement. In “Out on Top: The Tshirt, From Fashion Essential to Revolutionary Icon,” Apodaca
spotlighted the ubiquity of cotton T-shirts and their incredible
markup, particularly for vintage rock tees, noting that she
had to plunk down a $15,000 deposit for the assortment of
vintage T-shirts she showcased during the segment, some of
which can be found “at the Salvation Army.”
Following the event, guests attended a grand reception
celebrating the opening of the 13th annual Art of Motion
Picture Costume Design Exhibition at FIDM, featuring
costumes from the 2005 Academy Award-nominated films
for Best Costume Design.
page 77
Event: Par ticipant Biographies
participant biographies
cate adair
Catherine Adair was born in England, spent her primary education in Switzerland, and then returned to the U.K.
where she earned her degree in set and costume design from the University of Nottingham. After a series of apprenticeships in the London theater, Adair immigrated to the United States where she initially worked as a costume
designer in East Coast theater productions. Her credits there include The Kennedy Center, Washington Ballet, Onley
Theater Company, The Studio and Wolf Trap. Adair moved to Los Angeles, joined the West Coast Costume Designers
Guild and started her film and television career. Her credits include The 70s mini-series for NBC; The District for CBS;
the teen film I Know What You Did Last Summer and Dreamworks’ Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. Currently Adair is
the costume designer for the ABC hit series Desperate Housewives.
Cate Adair
rose apodaca
The West Coast Bureau Chief for Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) and a contributor to W, Rose Apodaca covers the
fashion and beauty industries, and reports on Hollywood and the culture at large. Apodaca has been instrumental
in the many events and projects tied to WWD and the fashion business in Los Angeles, including the establishment
of LA Fashion Week, and is active in the Hollywood nightlife revival as a partner in Vine, Beauty Bar and Star Shoes.
Before joining Fairchild Publications in June 2000, Apodaca covered fashion and popular and counter culture for
over a decade for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Sportswear International, Detour, Paper and others. As Fashion
Editor at ASR (Action Sports Retailer), she developed the annual Top 10 list, naming the most innovative brands
in the action sports market. The Southern California lifer has created and taught college courses on street style.
A lowbrow and contemporary art fan, she serves as an advisory board member at the Grand Central Art Center
in Santa Ana.
david bollier
Tom Ford, seated at the
Ready to Share event.
David Bollier is a senior fellow at the Norman Lear Center and co-founder of Public Knowledge, an advocacy group
dedicated to defending the commons of the Internet, science and culture. Since 1984, he has been a collaborator with
television and film producer Norman Lear on a wide variety of projects. Bollier also works as an independent strategist
and journalist specializing in issues of progressive public policy, digital media and democratic culture. Bollier’s recent
work has focused on developing a new vocabulary for reclaiming “the commons.” The commons refers to the diverse
array of publicly owned assets, gift-economies and natural systems that are available to everyone as a civic or human
right. Bollier’s critique of the commons is set forth in his 2002 book, Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common
Wealth (Routledge), and in a number of essays and reports. He has developed the notion of the information commons
as a new paradigm for understanding the public interest in the digital, networked environment. His latest book related
to the subject is Brand Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture (Wiley, 2004). Educated at Amherst College
(B.A.) and Yale Law School (M.S.L.), Bollier lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Rose Apodaca
David Bollier
page 79
barbara bundy
FPO
Barbara Bundy
Barbara Bundy is Vice President of Education of The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM. She is responsible for
the administration of all educational programs, the Resource and Research Center, Career Development Center and all studentservicing departments on the college’s four campuses — Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County and San Diego. She also serves
on the four-member Board of Administration that oversees all college activities; is a member of the FIDM Scholarship Foundation
Board; and is a Board Member of the FIDM Museum Foundation, which houses a collection of over 10,000 costumes, accessories
and rare textiles. Additionally, Bundy developed and co-chairs an Advanced Study Program in International Manufacturing and
Product Development, which prepares students to enter the global community of manufacturing and product development.
She has been a speaker for the college and the fashion and apparel industry at international events in Mexico, Russia, Italy,
France, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea. Bundy joined FIDM in 1978 as Executive Director of Education, following a career in retail
buying and management. She began her career at Bullock’s Wilshire and Robinson’s Department stores, now a division of May
Department stores. Bundy is active in numerous professional and civic organizations. She serves on the Boards of Directors of
the Junior League of Los Angeles, Costume Council of LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and Junior Philharmonic
Committee. She was a member of the Advisory Board for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Fashion Magnate High School
and she served on the Mayor’s Fashion Promotion Advisory Committee under Mayor Bradley. A fourth-generation Californian,
Bundy attended UCLA and received her degree in business administration from Mount St. Mary’s College.
john seely brown
John Seely Brown
T Bone Burnett
John Seely Brown is a visiting scholar at University of Southern California and previously was the Chief Scientist of Xerox
Corporation and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) — a position he held for nearly two decades. While head of
PARC, Brown expanded the role of corporate research to include such topics as organizational learning, complex adaptive systems,
ethnographic studies of the workscape, and MEMS and NANO technologies. He was a co-founder of the Institute for Research
on Learning (IRL). His personal research interests include the management of radical innovation, digital culture, ubiquitous
computing and organizational and individual learning. Brown — or, as he is often called, JSB — is a member of the National
Academy of Education and a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and of AAAS, and a Trustee of Brown
University and the MacArthur Foundation. He serves on numerous public boards of directors (Amazon, Corning, Polycom, Varian
Medical Systems) and on various private boards. He has published over 100 papers in scientific journals and was awarded the
Harvard Business Review’s 1991 McKinsey Award for his article, “Research That Reinvents the Corporation,” and again in 2002 for
his article, “Your Next IT Strategy.” In 1997, he published the book Seeing Differently: Insights on Innovation. He was an executive
producer for the film Art • Lunch • Internet • Dinner, which won a bronze medal at Worldfest 1994, the Charleston International
Film Festival. With Paul Duguid, he co-authored the acclaimed book The Social Life of Information (HBS Press, 2000) that has been
translated into nine languages, with a second edition in April 2002. And with John Hagel, he has written The Only Sustainable
Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization (HBS Press, 2005). JSB received a B.A.
from Brown University in 1962 in mathematics and physics and a Ph.D. from University of Michigan in 1970 in computer and
communication sciences.
t bone burnett
Born Joseph Henry Burnett in St. Louis, Missouri, T Bone Burnett grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where he first made records in
1965, producing Texas Blues, country, and rock and roll bands. In the early-1970s, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he still lives
and works as a producer and recording artist. In 1975, he toured with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review before forming his own
group, the Alpha Band, with others from the tour. Burnett returned to recording solo in the late-1970s and has gone on to record
numerous critically acclaimed albums under his own name. In the last five years, he has written music for two Sam Shepard plays
— Tooth of Crime (Second Dance) and The Late Henry Moss — and composed music for a production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother
Courage and Her Children by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company. In 2000 Burnett produced the soundtrack for O Brother,
Where Art Thou? The album sold multimillions and won multiple Grammys, including Album of the Year and Producer of the
Year for Burnett. With Academy Award-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, he formed DMZ Records, a joint venture with
Columbia Records, and produced the label’s inaugural releases: a new album by the legendary bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley
and the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood soundtrack. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004 as co-writer, along
with Elvis Costello, of “The Scarlet Tide” from the Civil War epic film Cold Mountain. Burnett served as Executive Music Producer
for the film and produced its soundtrack album. The Cold Mountain soundtrack, released on DMZ Records, earned Burnett and
composer Gabriel Yared a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for achievement in film music in February
2004. The Cold Mountain soundtrack also spawned a second Academy Award-nominated song, “You Will Be My Ain True Love,”
which was written by Sting and produced by Burnett. The Cold Mountain soundtrack garnered six Grammy nominations, including
Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for “The Scarlet Tide.”
Burnett also was nominated for Producer of The Year. A prolific and versatile producer, Burnett has produced highly successful
recordings for Sam Phillips, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, Counting Crows, The Wallflowers, Tony Bennett, k.d. lang and Gillian
Welch, among others. He most recently produced the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers’ film The Ladykillers, as well as the critically
acclaimed debut from one of music’s new buzz bands, Autolux.
Ted Cohen
ted cohen
Senior Vice President of Digital Development & Distribution for EMI Music Ted Cohen oversees worldwide digital business development for this “big five” record company, which includes the Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone and Chrysalis labels.
Under Cohen’s guidance, EMI has led the industry with its initiatives in new technologies and new business models. In addition
to seeking out, evaluating and executing business opportunities for the company, Cohen serves as a strategist and key decisionmaker for EMI’s global new media and anti-piracy efforts. He has worked to establish company-wide digital policies, which have
provided EMI’s artists and labels a substantial advantage in the digital music arena. Cohen co-founded and served as chairman
of the groundbreaking Webnoize conferences. He currently chairs MidemNet, an international music-technology conference
convened in Cannes each year. Cohen also serves on the Board of Directors for the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund, co-chairs the new
media arm of the T.J. Martell Foundation and lends his time to the Grammy In The Schools program.
danger mouse
In 2004, artist-producer Danger Mouse was named a GQ Man of the Year; called “Eccentric Genius of the Year” by SPIN; hailed as
“The Hottest Hip-Hop Producer in the World” by NME; honored with Album of the Year by Entertainment Weekly; and added to
Q Magazine’s list of the “Industry’s 100 Most Influential People.” Danger Mouse, AKA Brian Burton, gained his instant notoriety
after producing the Grey Album, a unique hybrid of The Beatles’ White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album. The infamous album
forever raised the bar on hip-hop experimentalism and was dubbed a “bootleg masterpiece” by GQ. With one million downloads
in just one week and an ensuing battle between major record companies, the Internet and copyright advocates, the release of
the Grey Album is considered a watershed moment in music history. Following his critically acclaimed 2004 debut CD with Jemini
— Ghetto Pop Life, featuring The Pharcyde, Tha Alkaholiks and Cee-Lo — Danger Mouse produced the 2005 Gorillaz album,
Demon Days, on Virgin Records.
Danger Mouse
tom ford
Tom Ford was born in Austin, Texas, but spent most of his childhood in Santa Fe, New Mexico. During his teens, Ford moved to
New York and enrolled at New York University, initially attending courses in art history. He later redirected his studies to concentrate on architecture at Parsons School of Design in New York and Paris, concluding his training at Parsons in New York. In 1990,
Ford moved to Milan to join Gucci as the company’s Women’s Wear Designer. He became Design Director in 1992, and, in 1994, he
was appointed Creative Director of Gucci. He was responsible for the design of all product lines, from clothing to perfumes, and
for the company’s corporate image, advertising campaigns and store design. In January 2000, following the acquisition of Yves
Saint Laurent and YSL Beauté by Gucci Group, Ford assumed the position of Creative Director of Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche
and YSL Beauté. In addition to his existing duties at Gucci, Ford worked with all creative teams at YSL to define the overall image
and positioning of the YSL brand. Ford also served as Creative Director of Gucci Group. In July 2002, he was made Vice Chairman
of the Management Board of Gucci Group. Ford resigned from his post at Gucci Group in April 2004, following a buyout by PinaultPrintemps-Redoute. Ford’s success in the fashion industry has been recognized by his numerous awards, including three awards
from the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) (1996, 2001, 2002); Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award (2004);
five VH1-Vogue Fashion Awards (1995, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2004); two awards from the Fashion Editor’s Club of Japan (FEC) (2000);
the Style Icon award in the 1999 Elle Style Awards (UK); the British GQ International Man of the Year award (2000); the Superstar
Award at the Fashion Group International’s Night of Stars (USA, 2000); Best Fashion Designer, TIME magazine (2001); and GQ
Designer of the Year (2001). Most recently, Ford was awarded the first annual Fashion Design Achievement Award at the Cooper
Hewitt Design Museum’s National Design Awards (2003).
Tom Ford
Kevin Hall
page 81
Kevin Jones
kevan hall
michael patrick king
As a teenager, Kevan Hall attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit, where he studied fashion design, and won a scholarship
sponsored by The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM in Los Angeles. After graduating, he received the Peacock
Award for Outstanding Fashion Design. In 1982, Hall — with his wife and partner, Deborah — launched Kevan Hall Couture. His
collection melded a relaxed couture look with sensible pricing that pleased retailers and clients, including celebrities Meg Ryan
and Natalie Cole. Hall was among the designers chosen to dress Ethel Bradley (wife of the late Mayor Tom Bradley) for the 1984
Olympics, and was nominated in 1988 by fashion retailers and the press as one of California’s top designers. In 1989, he was
included in the Soul on Seventh Avenue show sponsored by Fairchild Publications, and was given the NAACP’s Great American
Designer award. His participation in the national 1990 Absolut Vodka campaign featured in Vanity Fair underscored his broadbased appeal. In 1992, he was honored by The Center of Performing Arts in Southern California with a 10-year fashion retrospec-
Michael Patrick King was the leading creative force behind the HBO smash hit Sex and the City throughout the show’s remarkable
six-year run. For the last five seasons, he was the show’s head writer and chief executive producer. For his work as a writer on Sex
and the City he was nominated for three Emmys and three Writers Guild Awards. He was nominated twice for the best director
Emmy, winning for “The Real Me,” an episode that also garnered him one of his three Directors Guild nominations. King began his
career in New York as an aspiring actor, then began performing standup comedy and writing plays. He eventually moved to Los
Angeles where he began writing and producing Murphy Brown. King also has served as a writer and consulting producer for the
hit show Will & Grace. In June 2005, he debuted the HBO faux-reality series, The Comeback, created with and starring Lisa Kudrow.
tive. Hall branched out into motion pictures, acting as costume consultant on 1997’s Gridlock and Eve’s Bayou. Later, Whitney
Houston commissioned Hall to design a liquid gold charmeuse gown for her special appearance in the final episode of Boston
Public. From 1998 to 2000, Hall revived a “dead” brand to its former glory as Design and Creative Director for Halston. His sleek
eveningwear was worn by a distinguished coterie of artists, including Celine Dion, Lauren Holly, Charlize Theron, Mariah Carey,
Salma Hayek and Minnie Driver. Hall has made guest appearances on national TV shows such as Inside Edition, The Better Half,
SoapTalk and Extreme Makeover, discussing fashion’s current trends. His current signature Kevan Hall Collection emphasizes purity
of style, detailed tailoring and sensuously draped streamlined silhouettes. In 2002, Hall won the 47th Annual Gold Coast Fashion
Award in Chicago as Designer of the Year.
Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film, and as a political and social activist and philanthropist. Known
as the creator of Archie Bunker and All in the Family, Lear’s television credits include Sanford & Son; Maude; Good Times; The
Jeffersons; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Fernwood 2Nite; and the dramatic series Palmerstown, U.S.A. His motion picture
credits include Cold Turkey, Divorce American Style, Fried Green Tomatoes, Stand By Me and The Princess Bride. In 1999, President
Clinton bestowed him the National Medal of Arts noting that “Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed
the way we look at it.” He has the distinction of being among the first seven television pioneers inducted into the Television
Academy Hall of Fame (1984). He received four Emmy Awards (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973) and a Peabody Award (1977) for All in the
Family, as well as awards from the International Platform Association (1977), the Writers Guild of America (1977) and many other
professional and civic organizations. Lear has brought his distinctive vision to politics, academia and business by founding several
non-profit organizations, including People For the American Way (1980-present); the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg
School for Communication (2000-present) and the Business Enterprise Trust (1989-2000). In 2000, Lear and his wife, Lyn Davis Lear,
along with a friend, bought one of only 25 surviving original prints of the Declaration of Independence. The Lears are now the
sole owners of this document, the “Dunlap broadside,” which was printed on the night of July 4, 1776. From 2001 until the presidential election of 2004, the document toured the country as the centerpiece of the Declaration of Independence Road Trip, and
its spinoff, the “Declare Yourself” young voter activism project. Through its aggressive outreach to young and first-time voters,
the “Declare Yourself” project resulted in the registration of over 1 million new voters in the 2004 general election. Lear’s business
career began in 1959 with his co-founding of Tandem Productions, Inc. In 1974, he and his partners created T.A.T. Communications,
later known as Embassy Communications. He is currently chairman of Act III Communications, a multimedia holding with interests
in the recording, motion picture, broadcasting and publishing industries.
kevin jones
Martin Kaplan
A costume historian with a detailed knowledge of 18 th, 19 th and 20 th century high fashion, Kevin Jones was named curator of The
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum in November 2002. After completing the Fashion Design program at The
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM, Jones went on to receive a B.A. in Art History at the University of California,
Santa Barbara. Following graduation, Jones was hired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where he worked as a coordinator for Information Systems and coordinator for the Art Museum Council. Jones was then brought back to The FIDM Museum
by its former curator to oversee the 12,000-piece costume collection as Collections Manager. Jones has lectured and given tours as
well as television, radio and newspaper interviews. He is an active member of the Costume Society of America and a member of
the Titanic Historical Society.
martin kaplan
Rick Karr
Michael Patrick King
norman lear
Martin Kaplan, Associate Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication, is the Director of the Norman Lear Center. A
summa cum laude graduate of Harvard in molecular biology, a Marshall Scholar to Cambridge University and a Stanford Ph.D., he
has been an Aspen Institute program officer; a federal education staffer; Vice President Walter F. Mondale’s chief speechwriter
and deputy presidential campaign manager; a vice president of motion picture production for Disney Studios; a film and television
writer and producer (The Distinguished Gentleman, Noises Off, Max Q: Emergency Landing); and a radio host and commentator.
Kaplan is editor of The Harvard Lampoon Centennial Celebration, 1876-1973; co-author (with Ernest L. Boyer) of Educating for
Survival; and editor of The Monday Morning Imagination and What Is An Educated Person? At USC he has taught graduate and
undergraduate courses in media and politics; campaign communication and entertainment; and communication and society.
booth moore
rick karr
richard jeremy nichols
A broadcast and print journalist who contributes regularly to several public television and radio programs, Rick Karr also is an
adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He currently is writing and developing TechnoPop:
How Technology Makes and Un-Makes Popular Music, a book and documentary television series that examines technology’s
impact on the sound and business of music from Bach to Britney. The TechnoPop project garnered him fellowships in 2004 from
the MacDowell Colony and the Center for the Public Domain. From 1999 to 2004, Karr reported from New York on culture and
technology for National Public Radio News. In 1998 and 1999, he hosted the groundbreaking NPR music and culture magazine
show, Anthem. Karr has written about culture, technology and pop music for The Nation, New Musical Express, Sounds and
Stereo Review. A longtime musician, record producer, recording engineer and songwriter, Karr performs with his acclaimed
band, Box Set Authentic.
Richard Nichols is the thriving force behind an anomaly in music called “The Next Movement,” also known as hip-hop soul. Nichols
began his career in community outreach, creating a truce between local gangs in Philadelphia while working as a jazz DJ for WRTIFM. In the early-1990s, he founded Watch Your Back Management with artists including female MC Shorty No Mas (De La Soul),
Scott Storch (producer of Dr. Dre and Questlove), and the group that put him on the map, The Square Roots, who later became
known as The Roots. Nichols produced The Roots’ critically acclaimed Do You Want More for Geffen Records. In 1999, he founded
a boutique label, Motive/MCA records, and released The Roots’ “You Got Me,” featuring Erykah Badu, which won that year’s Rap
Performance Grammy. Nichols and The Roots support and develop artists with Okayplayer.com; a 24-hour working demo studio
and rehearsal space; and an “idea lab” called The Black Lily, which combines open mic with showcases of female artists such as
The Jazzyfatnastees and Jaguar.
A former columnist for the Washington Post, Booth Moore joined the Los Angeles Times in 1996 in the Calendar section, writing
the daily column “SoCal Confidential,” and later moving into a field that had always been a passionate interest for her — fashion
— joining The Times’ fashion writing staff. She is now a staff of one, and in June 2004, was named Fashion Critic, the first time
that title has been given to a fashion writer in the paper’s history. She covers the world of fashion, with a special focus on the
industry in Southern California, and twice each year attends and covers Fashion Weeks in New York, Milan and Paris. When the
9-11 tragedy occurred during New York Fashion Week 2001, she was assigned to the event, and received an Editorial Award from
The Times for her coverage.
Norman Lear
Booth Moore
Richard Jeremy Nichols
Sam Phillips
page 83
Laurie Racine
sam phillips
jonathan taplin
Renowned singer-songwriter Sam Phillips made an indelible mark in the music scene with her Grammy-nominated Martinis and
Bikinis (1994). She’s followed her unpredictable muse down a zigzag path, gathering inspiration from a wide range of sources:
folk, pop, vintage rock and roll, literature, philosophy, film and all the technical marvels of the recording studio. That has made
her hard to categorize and market, but also that much more fascinating to follow. Phillips’ 2004 release, A Boot and a Shoe,
like her 2001 Nonesuch debut, Fan Dance, is fiercely intimate in atmosphere and stripped down in arrangement — not so much
unplugged as unvarnished. Although Phillips has long been admired for her coolly modern take on Beatles-esque songwriting and
studio craft, she decided to move away from elaborate pop production and 21st century technological upgrades with Fan Dance.
Jonathan Taplin, a specialist in international communication management and the field of digital media entertainment, began
his entertainment career in 1969 as Tour Manager for Bob Dylan and The Band. In 1973, he produced Martin Scorsese’s first
feature film, Mean Streets, which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival. Between 1974 and 1996, Taplin produced television
documentaries, including The Prize and Cadillac Desert for PBS, and 12 feature films, including The Last Waltz, Until The End of
the World, Under Fire and To Die For. His films were nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe awards and chosen for the Cannes
Film Festival seven times. Taplin was a founder of Intertainer, the pioneer video-on-demand company for cable and broadband
Internet markets, and has served as its Chairman and CEO since June 1996. He holds two patents for video-on-demand technolo-
Since then, she has stuck to the road less traveled.
gies, and has acted as a consultant on digital media for entities as diverse as McKinsey & Company and the City of Los Angeles.
Taplin graduated from Princeton University. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Annenberg
Research Network for International Communication and sits on the advisory board of the Democracy Collaborative at the
University of Maryland.
laurie racine
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Laurie Racine is a senior fellow at the Norman Lear Center and co-director of the Lear Center’s Creativity, Commerce and Culture
Project. Racine is the President of the Center for the Public Domain, a private foundation endowed by the founders of Red Hat,
Inc. The Center is devoted to exploring the balance between intellectual property rights and freely reusable knowledge that is
the basis of our cultural and scientific heritage. During her tenure, she co-founded Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C.-based
public interest group that is working to sustain a vibrant information commons. She serves as Chair of the Board. Racine is also
the President of Doc. Arts, the non-profit corporation that produces the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Before joining the
Center for the Public Domain, Racine was previously the Director of the Health Sector Management Program at the Fuqua School
of Business of Duke University. She has spent many years as a strategist and consultant for non-profit and for-profit enterprises.
Racine received a B.A. from New York University and conducted coursework for a Ph.D. in Human Genetics at the University of
California, Berkeley.
Guy Trebay joined The New York Times as a reporter in 2000. He was formerly a columnist at the Village Voice, where he covered
New York for two decades. He has written for many national magazines, including The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s, Travel &
Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler and various literary magazines, among them Grand Street. A collection of his stories about New York
City, In the Place to Be, was published in 1994; selections are anthologized in the forthcoming book, Empire City: Three Centuries
of Writing About New York. Among his journalism awards is Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award, which was presented to
him twice, in 1992 and 2000. Trebay also received the Deadline Club Front Page Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. He lives in
New York City.
sheryl lee ralph
siva vaidhyanathan
Respected actress, singer, writer, director and producer Sheryl Lee Ralph is known for her role of Deena Jones in Dreamgirls,
for which she earned a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award nomination for best actress. Ralph scored a top-10
selling dance hit in the mid-1980s with the infectious anthem “In the Evening.” On television, she has starred in It’s a Living, New
Attitude, George, Designing Women and Moesha. Her extensive film credits include Sister Act II, The Flintstones, The Mighty
Quinn, Mistress and The Distinguished Gentleman. She won the 1991 Independent Spirit Award for best supporting actress in To
Sleep With Anger. Ralph wrote, directed and starred in the 1998 award-winning film short, Secrets, also featuring Alfre Woodard,
La Tanya Richardson and Robin Givens. Since 1991, Ralph has created, produced and presented the critically acclaimed “Divas
Simply Singing,” an annual event featuring top female entertainers in film, stage, television and music and benefiting Project
Angel Food and The Safe Place for Pediatric AIDS.
Siva Vaidhyanathan, a cultural historian and media scholar, is the author of Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual
Property and How it Threatens Creativity (New York University Press, 2001) and The Anarchist in the Library (Basic Books, 2004).
Vaidhyanathan has written for many periodicals and online publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, New
York Times Magazine, The Nation, MSNBC.com, Salon.com and openDemocracy.net. After five years as a professional journalist,
Vaidhyanathan earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught at Wesleyan University
and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and is currently an assistant professor of Culture and Communication at New York
University. He lives in Greenwich Village, USA.
cameron silver
Cameron Silver
Named one of Time magazine’s “25 Most Influential Names and Faces in Fashion,” Cameron Silver has dressed A-list celebrities,
including Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez and Renée Zellweger, in upscale vintage designs; has appeared on E! Entertainment, the
Style Network and Fashion File; and has written for Harper’s Bazaar, V Magazine, Elle and Harpers & Queen. Silver is completing
his first book on Kaisik Wong (Rizzoli). Silver’s mini-empire encompasses two retail stores, Decades and Decadestwo, on Melrose
Avenue, plus an in-store Decades boutique inside the Comme des Garçons’ Dover Street Market in London. Vogue calls Decades
“the nation’s premier source for fabulous ‘60s and ‘70s pieces.” Fashion designers, including Tom Ford, Anna Sui and Nicolas
Ghesquière, have raided the stores for inspiration, while costume designers, including Michael Kaplan and Colleen Atwood, stock
up on wardrobe for their stars. In 2004, Silver was named Creative Consultant to the French fashion house, Azzaro, founded in
1962 by the late Loris Azzaro.
rani singh
Rani Singh
Rani Singh is Senior Research Associate in the Department of Contemporary Programs and Research at the Getty Research
Institute. Her research and programming focus is on the history, preservation and presentation of alternative media and avantgarde film. She also is coordinating the documentation of experimental film and video in Los Angeles since 1945 for the Research
Institute’s “Modern Art in Los Angeles” project. Singh has been Director of the Harry Smith Archives since 1991. Currently she’s
directing a documentary on the filmmaker and anthologist Harry Smith.
Jonathan Taplin
guy trebay
Guy Trebay
david wolfe
David Wolfe is Creative Director for Doneger Creative Services, the trend and color forecasting and analysis department of The
Doneger Group, whose clients include an international roster of designers, manufacturers and retailers. As Creative Director,
Wolfe analyzes trends influencing the men’s, women’s and youth apparel and accessories markets as well as big-picture developments in style, culture and society. Wolfe’s wit and wisdom have earned him a stellar reputation over his 35 years in the fashion
industry. He is known as “America’s Foremost Fashion Forecaster” and is the most quoted authority in the industry. His views
and quips appear in such diverse publications as The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue, Glamour and Forbes.
Wolfe also serves as International Fashion Editor of Men Mode and Couture magazines, glossy high-fashion publications in the
Far East, and has been featured on CNN, QVC, Entertainment Tonight, The Today Show, talk shows and news programs, and as a
celebrated speaker at major fashion industry events and shows. Wolfe began his career in a small-town department store, where
his responsibilities included that of fashion coordinator, buyer, copywriter, illustrator and advertising manager. In the 1960s, he
moved to London, where he quickly established himself as a leading fashion artist published in Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily and
The London Times. In 1969, Wolfe joined the nascent “fashion service” industry and, as Creative Director of I.M. International,
became one of the world’s leading fashion forecasters and authorities, among the first to discover talents such as Giorgio
Armani, Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace. In the early-1980s, Wolfe helped to found The Fashion Service, and returned to the
United States to head TFS as its president for a decade. He joined The Doneger Group in 1990.
Siva Vaidhyanathan
David Wolfe
page 85
O
N
R esources
Resources: Annotated Bibliography
annotated bibliography
BY PATRICK REED
Women’s Wear Daily editor Rose Apodaca
engages a packed crowd at “Ready to Share”
with the history of the T-shirt.
Agins, Teri. The End of Fashion. New York: Quill, 1999.
In this general audience book, the longtime fashion reporter for the Wall Street Journal discusses several
paradigm-altering changes that occurred within the fashion industry during the late-1980s and throughout the
1990s. According to Agins, the fashion industry’s creative model for most of the 20 th century — couture largely
setting the trends, the rest of the industry following — has been transformed by a shift in consumer expectations. Elite, formal wear is on the wane, and functional yet trendy apparel is booming, meaning that today
just as many creative decisions are made in the marketing of clothes as in the designing of them. The author
shapes her broader points in specific chapters examining the changing fortunes of several individual designers,
including Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger’s competition during the 1990s and Giorgio Armani’s successful
seduction of Hollywood, from American Gigolo onward, as his clothing became a perennial favorite for Oscar
night’s red carpet fashion.
———. “Fashion: Some Clothes of Questionable Vintage.” Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2001.
Report and analysis concerns the widespread marketing of “vintage fashion” by established, upscale retailers.
Several interview subjects remark on the irony of second-hand, ostensibly cheap clothing selling for like-new
prices (for example, at New York retailer Henri Bendel, a Diane von Furstenberg knit dress from the 1970s
sells for $190, compared to $225 for a new, silk von Furstenberg dress). The author places this trend in a larger
context of cultural recycling, an endemic, recurring pattern of the overall fashion industry that is crucial to
its vitality.
Agins, Teri, and Sally Beatty. “In a Style Replay, It’s Ralph’s Turn to Fight With a Licensee.” Wall Street Journal,
Feb. 5, 2003.
Report on the growing battle between Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and its licensee for women’s clothing, Jones
Apparel Group, over the rights to manufacture Lauren, Polo’s signature women’s line. After the disappointing
financial performance of Ralph, Polo’s casual women’s line, the designer expressed a desire to terminate the
license rights for the successful Lauren line early, at the end of 2003 when the Ralph rights were to expire. This
dispute is yet another example of designers attempting to regain control over their brands in recent years (i.e.,
Calvin Klein’s near-lawsuit with Warnaco in 2001).
Agins, Teri, and Tara Parker-Pope. “Common Scents: It Isn’t a Nose Dive, But Perfume Sales Are Steadily Dropping.”
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 23, 1998.
Extensive report on changing consumer opinions about designer fragrances, and the related adjustments made
by companies to their production and marketing methods in an attempt to reverse modest declines in sales
during the late-1990s. The authors provide a solid historical overview of the fragrance sector of the fashion
industry, detailing the Chanel No. 5-fueled boom in fragrance sales in post World War II America; continued
strong growth during the successive decades; and humorous industry stories, such as the unveiling of the
potent Giorgio perfume in the early-1980s, during which the first bottle was escorted via stretch limousine to
a downtown Cleveland department store. Several experts blame the glut of new fragrances brought to market
in the 1990s (813, according to the article) for the current stagnation, and note a consumer movement toward
lower-priced (and lighter-smelling) body washes sold in department stores.
Ash, Juliet, and Elizabeth Wilson, eds. Chic Thrills: A Fashion Reader. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Collection of cultural criticism contains several pieces that examine the economic structures of the industry
page 89
during the 20 th century. Ellen Leopold’s “The Manufacture of the
Fashion System” argues that the industry’s adoption of a rapid
turnover in product (apparel) during the 1920s and 1930s — particularly in America — was the result of a failure to “fully embrace
mass production techniques” rather than due to the demands of
consumers. Angela Partington’s “Popular Fashion and Working-Class
Affluence” assesses women’s fashion in post-World War II Western
societies, and disputes the dominant “trickle-down” or emulation
model that held working-class women to be passive or deferential
to elites in their consumption practices. Other essays focus on such
disparate topics as: the catwalk as performance, fashion photography and ethnic dress (Asian, Irish, black street style).
Avins, Mimi. “Red-Carpetbagger.” Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2003.
Entertaining profile of fashion-celebrity critic Steven Cojocaru,
a regular presence in People magazine and on television’s Today
show and Access Hollywood, as well as at most awards shows’ red
carpet promenades. The author details Cojocaru’s upbringing (as
a celebrity-obsessed “nerd”) and his dues-paying days at various
Hollywood publicity jobs, and places him in a select group of fashion
arbiters from past and present that includes Mr. Blackwell and Joan
Rivers. With a quick-quipping, unfailingly enthusiastic and gossipcentric demeanor, Cojocaru gives fashion fans what they want from
a commentator, according to E! Television’s style director, who notes,
“Entertainment is No. 1. Learning about fashion is second.”
Bache, Abigail. “Is Intellectual Property Fashionable?” Essay entry for
the WIPOUT counter-essay contest, Dec. 17, 2001.
[https://www.kent.ac.uk/law/undergraduate/modules/ip/resources/
Wipout2.htm]
Perceptive essay examines several aspects of British intellectual property law as it affects the fashion industry — in particular, how the
cycle of creativity in design and apparel manufacture may be stifled
by restrictive patent and copyright protections. The author argues
that loose IP restrictions on fashion throughout the years have
enabled the industry to flourish, and allow for appealing, affordable
and “cool” replicas of high-end designs for the general public. “It is
this cycle of fashion that ensures a healthy and imaginative growth
of clothes design and an accessible fashion industry,” one that is now
threatened by increased restrictions on the patenting of designs,
observes the author.
Ball, Deborah. “The Brand Rules Fashion’s New World.” Wall Street
Journal, March 12, 2001.
A summer 2000 shakeup of the Jil Sander design group — in which
the namesake designer quit and initially was not replaced by the
group’s new owner, Miuccia Prada — exemplifies an attitude shift
within the fashion industry, one that elevates brand promotion to
the place of creative ingenuity, according to the author. One interview subject, a New York retail consultant, insists that the industry’s
demands as a global economic enterprise are necessitating a movement toward overall brand marketing. Others, such as Gucci’s Tom
Ford, say that designer autonomy is still central to modern fashion,
and maintain that individual creativity still flourishes, despite the
current climate of corporate acquisition.
Barnard, Malcolm. Fashion as Communication. London: Routledge, 1996.
Essay compilation assesses fashion as the product of a communication-rich culture. Building on previous cultural studies scholarship
from thinkers such as Georg Simmel and Raymond Williams, the
essays include several citations of Dick Hebdige’s examination of
youth-fashion subcultures and Elizabeth Wilson’s writing in Adorned
in Dreams. Summaries of other scholarly opinions and analyses are
organized into specific chapters that deal broadly with fashion as a
cultural foundation of modern, Western, capitalist societies.
Beatty, Sally. “Calling Fashionistas! Cable Channels Flock to Fashion
Shows.” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 15, 2002.
Brief report on the increase in fashion-oriented programming on
cable television, due to the advent of digital cable’s larger channel
capacity and to the growing interest of advertisers (including
non-fashion companies, such as auto manufacturers). The author
cites pioneering shows on CNN and MTV, as well as the successful
VH1-Vogue Fashion Awards, and analyzes the new efforts at
fashion programming individually (including the WE: Women’s
Entertainment cable network’s expansion of the New York-area
hit Full Frontal Fashion into a nationwide program and E! Entertainment Television network’s development of a sister cable channel
called Style).
Bellafante, Ginia. “In Love With Asia, Muse and Market.” New York Times,
Feb. 25, 2003.
Intriguing report on a revival of Asian-influenced style in the new
apparel lines of several international designers, including Donna
Karan, Miuccia Prada and Tom Ford for Gucci. The author discusses
the unveiling of several Asian-influenced garments in Prada’s
Broadway-Manhattan store, as well as the expansion of Pearl River
Mart, a 25-year-old Chinese department store located nearby. The
article examines Asian culture’s longstanding influence in the West
in relation to this trend (Wong Kar-wai’s stylish 2000 film, In the
Mood for Love, is a recent inspiration), although a costume curator
specializing in Oriental dress opines that many of the new Western
adaptations vulgarize the traditional Asian adherence to sexual
modesty in clothing design.
Blau, Herbert. Nothing In Itself: Complexions of Fashion. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1999.
Wide-ranging, highly detailed and analytical assessment of fashion
from a cultural studies perspective, often employing a postmodernist, visual-centric approach to examine its impact but also
engaging a number of other theories and thinkers (from Walter
Benjamin and Charles Baudelaire to artist and Vogue contributor
Cecil Beaton). The book references many designers and trends from
the past century — for example, Chanel’s and Balenciaga’s creations
form the initial backbone of a perceptive chapter investigating the
shifting boundaries and interrelations between haute couture and
ready-to-wear. Elsewhere, Blau cites designers such as Vivienne
Westwood, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen as paragons of
historically referential fashion creation, and debates gender-body
image issues by using Rei Kawakubo and Jean-Paul Gaultier’s designs
as referents. Other passages explore the permutations of “trickle up”
fashion — i.e., 1970s’ punk styles and other subcultural influences
— as well as late-90s’ developments, including a discussion of logos,
brands and mass-market retailers. Voluminous endnotes and astutely
chosen photographs buttress the author’s myriad observations.
Borrelli, Laird. Net Mode: Web Fashion Now. New York: Thames &
Hudson, 2002.
Incisive examination of the burgeoning synthesis of Internet technology with fashion’s merchandising, brand creation and editorial
coverage. Compiled by the editor of Style.com, the guide is sectioned
into three areas: Fashion Identity (designer sites); Fashion Sale (ecommerce sites, including “teaser” sites offering product descriptions and directions for offline purchase); and Fashion Talk (fanzine
and online periodical sites). The highlighted sites feature clothing
lines and topics circa late-2001, and the author does a commendable
job of including both widely popular and financially well-supported
venues such as Style.com, Dior.com, eLuxury.com (backed in part by
the conglomerate LMVH) and Net-a-Porter.com, as well as upstart
enterprises more attuned to specific items-consumer bases, such
as Spain’s itfashion.com, developed by three college students with
a mandate to promote “a more heterogeneous, multicultural and
extensive vision of fashion.” The majority of the sites utilize software
programs Flash or Shockwave to achieve their inviting visual interfaces, most of which have been updated since this book’s release.
Boucher, François. 20,000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume
and Personal Adornment. Expanded Edition. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, 1987.
Extensively researched, immaculately illustrated history of clothing’s
evolution, from its prehistoric beginnings through the early-1980s. In
minute detail, the author describes changes in apparel from century
to century, and era to era. One caveat: After covering costume
development in ancient civilizations around the world, the author
focuses primarily on Western costume from the 12 th century onward.
Following his description of the emergence of the haute couture
industry during the mid-19 th century, the author provides informative
capsules on individual designers, primarily European ones.
Bounds, Wendy. “Fashion: The Next Leisure Suit.” Wall Street Journal,
July 17, 1998.
Entertaining assessment of several prevailing fashion trends of
the late-1990s that examines how they fit in contextually to the
larger culture and speculates on which ones will be regarded as
time-capsule embarrassments by future fashion historians. Topics
for discussion, analysis and approval-disdain include: monochromatic shirt and tie (initially popularized by the Today show co-host
Matt Lauer); the blue dress shirt; hip-hop apparel (and the lionization of logos); and decorative formal wear. Regarding the early1990s grunge fad, designer Donna Karan opines that future critics
will declare that the worst part of 90s fashion was, in fact,
“the seventies.”
Branch, Shelly. “Stayin’ Alive: Velour Suddenly Doesn’t Rub People the
Wrong Way.” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 6, 2002.
Lively report on a fad-in-the-making in 2002-2003: the hip-hop
and celebrity-fueled resurgence of velour fabric into American
fashion consciousness. The article briefly recounts the history of the
fabric (former velour wearers: Napoleon, Mr. Spock), and velour’s
association with the 1970s’ disco era is remembered less than fondly
by several observers. Hip-hop’s resurrection of velour as “athleisure” has encouraged mass merchandisers such as the Gap and The
Limited, among others, to implement it into their apparel lines,
while, on an individual level, upscale fashionistas invent ingenious
ways to accessorize what amounts to a jogging tracksuit. Detractors
have their say, and some wonder if velour will appeal to fashionconscious males who don’t follow hip-hop, but the urban retailers
interviewed believe that the “velour ethic” will endure, at least
through the current fashion cycle.
Brubach, Holly. A Dedicated Follower of Fashion. London: Phaidon
Press, 1999.
Collection of essays dating from the mid-80s to the mid-90s by a
fashion writer for The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker and The
New York Times Magazine. Topics include: Ralph Lauren’s imagemaking empire; Yves Saint Laurent’s legacy; and the designer
sunglasses boom in the 1980s. In one essay, a New York City
megalopolis summer-time travelogue, the author visits several area
beaches and comments on the diverse fashion statements on display.
Another, particularly insightful essay distinguishes the Parisian
conception of fashion as a central, native element of society from
American attitudes toward fashion (as ephemera, or as populist
“fitting in”). Overall, the writer’s engaging and conversational style
helps to support her observations on fashion’s changing trends and
its dissemination into mainstream consumer culture during the past
20 years.
Bruzzi, Stella, and Pamela Gibson, eds. Fashion Cultures. London:
Routledge, 2000.
Eclectic anthology of academic writings on fashion features essays
derived from, among other methodologies, postmodern theory,
feminist criticism and subculture analysis. Part Three, “Images, icons
and impulses” contains essays on such fashion-entertainment paragons as Marcello Mastroianni, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant and Gwyneth
Paltrow. Other topics include: fashion design brand-creation on the
Internet; “catwalk politics”; Gianni Versace’s exploitation of glamour,
celebrity culture and mass media in building his fashion empire; and
an overview of U.K. fashion as a culture industry.
Bunn, Austin. “Not Fade Away.” New York Times Magazine, Dec. 1,
2002: 60 +.
Magazine piece focuses on the niche popularity of vintage-styled
blue jeans among discerning denim aficionados. The trend toward
“new vintage” began in Japan during the 1990s, according to the
author’s research, as decades-old pairs of extremely worn-out jeans
were coveted by Japanese buyers obsessed with authenticity. As it now
stands, demand for soiled, torn jeans in the alternative corners of the
U.S. fashion scene has spawned a sub-industry focused on replicating
vintage jeans of yesteryear (anything pre-1980s). Replicas from a
leading, Levi’s-contracted “counterfeiter” based in western Kentucky
are compared with actual Depression-era jeans to illustrate the degree
of similarity.
page 91
Buxbaum, Gerda, ed. Icons of Fashion: The 20 th Century. Munich:
Prestel Verlag, 1999.
History of fashion over the previous century offers a concise,
appealing format: two pages (verso-recto) devoted to numerous
important topics (people, styles, movements, etc.) from designer
Paul Poiret’s Orientalism in the early-1900s to John Galliano’s
historically rich, “stagy fashion” of the 1990s, and most everything in
between. The illustrations and photographs for each entry generally
are wisely chosen, and most complement the four or five paragraphs written on each topic (authors include several highlighted
in this bibliography, including Valerie Steele and Elizabeth Wilson).
Timeline biographies of fashion designers are featured either with
their specific entry, or in an appendix that also includes a select
bibliography. One especially informative aspect of this history is its
celebration of some of fashion’s more influential illustrators, such as
Erté (30-31) and René Grau (70-71).
Carr, David. “Anna Wintour Steps Toward Fashion’s New Democracy.”
New York Times, Feb. 17, 2003.
Profile of Vogue editor Anna Wintour describes her self-assured
managerial style and strategy that reversed the fortunes of the
111-year old fashion magazine. Several cohorts and competitors
comment on Wintour’s shift toward a more democratic, inclusive
concept of contemporary fashion. As a “stealth populist,” Wintour
has opened up the magazine’s coverage to decidedly untraditional
haute couture areas: more celebrity coverage; pregnancy (the Brooke
Shields cover); hip-hop fashion; and, especially, the collaboration
with VH-1 for a cable TV fashion awards show.
———. “The News Media; In Style’s World of Fashion.” New York
Times, Feb. 25, 2002.
Analysis of the growth and influence of InStyle magazine since
its debut in 1994 with founding editor Martha Nelson. As Nelson
prepares to take the editorial reins at People, the author says that
her emphasis on availability over exclusivity means that she “will
be remembered for taking fashion out of the dressing rooms of
Paris and onto the runway of life.” InStyle is credited with pushing
celebrity lifestyle into the forefront of fashion coverage; spurring
new designs and clothing lines; and blurring, if not erasing, the
distinction between advertising and editorial function. The resulting
de-emphasis on articles is brushed off as unimportant, since “nobody
actually reads a fashion magazine.” High-end fashion magazines
such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar have shifted their own coverage
due to InStyle’s success, and an upstart publication, Lucky, is
viewed as a possible challenger to InStyle’s supremacy in the “maga-log” market.
Chaplin, Julia. “A Runway Fair That Still Packs the House.” New York Times,
Oct. 14, 2001.
Article covering the yearly Ebony Fashion Fair, a national tour
sponsored by Ebony magazine since 1958, which attracts several
hundred thousand spectators and raises money for numerous
charities. The longtime success of the Fashion Fair is attributed to
its mixture of lavish apparel and localized presentation. Regarding
the event’s influence, founder Eunice Johnson explains how she
persuaded several top French designers during the 1960s to include
black models in their runway shows. The current enormous influence
of hip-hop fashion (and its envelope-pushing sexuality) is contrasted
with the more traditional couture of the Ebony Fashion Fair; as the
author observes, the lack of “ghetto fabulous” cool among the fair’s
chosen designs has had no negative impact on its popularity.
Chensvold, Christian. “Past Perfect: Retro Designers See Business Boom.”
California Apparel News, March 28-April 3, 2003.
Article on the revival of “retro” fashion in the Southern California
design and merchandising industry. Inspired by the swing revival
of 1940s-1950s fashion that occurred during the mid-1990s, this rerevival incorporates more durable fabric design and thus may endure
longer and have more of a cultural impact than before, according
to industry observers. The article mentions several designers and
labels, including Alicia Estrada’s Stop Staring label, which specializes
in vintage dress designs; Steady Clothing’s men’s bowling shirts;
and the Da Vinci label, a bastion of Rat Pack style founded in 1952
that has found favor with young hepcats. Los Angeles stylist Jenna
Kautzky notes, ”West Side Story seems to be the look right now,”
and refers to the echoes of 1950s-1960s style in the current output
of international designer Marc Jacobs.
Clancy, Deirdre. Costume Since 1945: Couture, Street Style, and AntiFashion. New York: Drama Publishers, 1996.
Mixing text and illustrations, the author covers fashion’s development during the last half of the 20 th century, focusing just as much
on the dress of mainstream Western society and subcultures as on
the luxurious currents of haute couture. Each illustration is coupled
with a description of the garment and its designer (if applicable)
and function in the culture of its particular era. The illustrations are
primarily black and white line drawings, with three small sections of
color drawings. Apart from brief summaries of particular eras at the
beginning of each chapter, the writing on fashion is descriptive and
informal (as evidenced by the small bibliography).
Coleridge, Nicholas. The Fashion Conspiracy: A Remarkable Journey
through the Empires of Fashion. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.
Chapter 15, “Beware of Imitations — the Pirates of Seoul,” leads
with a story of sabotage and theft in China in 1986, when 11,000
counterfeit Lacoste T-shirts were stolen from a crashed truck only
to resurface in South Korea months later. This recounting leads
into an overview of the prevalence of unauthorized copying in the
1980s fashion industry, and a discourse with several international
designers, all of whom agree on the enormity of the situation but
offer differing opinions about its degree of harm. Vague intellectual property laws are part of the problem, notes the author, who
questions whether the industry truly wants rigidly enforced restrictions on creative reinterpretations. One London designer perfectly
expresses the overall ambivalence with her comments regarding
plagiarism: “[I]ntellectually, it’s lovely, it’s flattering. Morally, it’s
disgusting.”
Cunningham, Bill. “Bill on Bill.” New York Times, Oct. 27, 2002.
Fascinating autobiographical piece by a renowned “street shooter”
(fashion photographer) who navigates the bustling grid of
Manhattan to capture random, fleeting moments of fashion genesis
among the populace. Cunningham recounts his long march toward
occupational nirvana: He was first a milliner for society women in the
50s, then a fashion writer before starting his photography career in
the mid-60s. Cunningham extols the exciting unpredictability of his
job — you never know when you’ll find a “stunner” — and shares
his impetus: “[T]he main thing I love about street photography is
that you find the answers you don’t see at the fashion shows. You
find information for readers so they can visualize themselves .…
I let the street speak to me.” (There is a companion article about
Cunningham, written by William Norwich, in the same edition.)
Dickerson, Kitty. Textiles and Apparel in the Global Economy. 3rd ed. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 1999.
Textbook comprehensively covers the economics of the textile and
apparel production industries on an international level. The author
examines the historical development of these industries in relation
to the overall evolution and expansion of global trade, especially
from the Industrial Revolution onward, and recognizes the textile
and apparel industries as central, often determining factors in the
formulation of new treaties and agreements. Trade policies, importexport procedures, labor disputes and individual sectors of both
industries are explored, with informative glossaries and bibliographies following each specific chapter.
Dwight, Eleanor. Diana Vreeland. New York: William Morrow, 2002.
Thoroughly researched and well-written biography of one of the
leading icons of 20 th century fashion. The scope of Vreeland’s life
is covered by the author, through her voluminous interviews with
friends, associates and family members, and her collection of
extensive source material from Vreeland’s three main careers in
fashion: fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar from the mid-1930s to
the early-1960s; editor in chief of Vogue from the early-1960s to the
early-1970s; and consultant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
Costume Institute during the 1970s and early-1980s. Vreeland’s social
and family life are explored, but the more illuminating passages
document her inexhaustible commitment to capturing fashion’s
vitality as it impacted culture (reflected in, among other things, her
demanding leadership style). Insightful sections include: Vreeland’s
time during the late-1920s and early-1930s in Europe, where she first
became attracted to haute couture (Chanel, Schiaparelli); her relationships with fashion photographers and models (Richard Avedon,
Veruschka), whom she sent to far-off locales for ambitious shoots
during the Vogue years; and her willingness to mix historically inapplicable garments together to achieve the right “look” while at the
Met. Excellent photograph selections (color and black and white).
Fairchild, John. The Fashion Book. London: Phaidon Press, 1998.
Thick, oversize encyclopedia of fashion, one page per entry, limited
to short, approximately 100-word biographies and one photograph
or illustration. Five hundred representatives of the fashion world are
included: couture and ready-to-wear designers, costume designers,
photographers, models, makeup artists, accessory craftspeople, illustrators, publishers-editors, retailers and icons. Despite the brevity of
biographical information, this anthology is quite useful and informa-
tive — the picture selection is especially impressive. Without fail, the
contributors make illustrative choices (an Art Deco-influenced dress
represents 1920s’ designer Jean Patou; a sheath dress photographed
by Herb Ritts in a risqué 1990s’ ad campaign captures Valentino’s
mastery). The breadth of entries allows for the inclusion of figures
from all corners of fashion; interestingly, although Marilyn Monroe
appears in several listings, there is no entry for her.
———. The Fashionable Savages. Garden City, NY: Doubleday,
1965.
Personalized, opinionated account of the fashion industry during
the early- and mid-1960s from the editor-publisher of Women’s
Wear Daily. Brief chapters focus on: individual couturiers based in
Paris (“King” Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, etc.) and America (Norman
Norrell in New York, James Galanos in Los Angeles, and others);
influential consumers (social elites, movie stars, young trendsetters);
and Fairchild’s print media peers (Vogue’s Diana Vreeland, the New
York Daily Tribune’s Eugenia Sheppard). Informative chapters on
Jacqueline Kennedy and the daily machinations of the industry’s U.S.
center, New York City’s Seventh Avenue, where the “basic instinct,”
according to Fairchild, is that “someone will copy me, steal my ideas.”
Therefore, “Seventh Avenue copies Paris.”
Frankel, Susannah. Visionaries: Interviews With Fashion Designers.
London: V&A Publications, 2001.
Captivating interviews with 23 internationally renowned designers
feature many citations of influences, and comment on fashion’s
evolution away from the dominance of haute couture into a more
universal, egalitarian organism (not all of those interviewed view
this as a favorable development). Retired legends Valentino and Yves
Saint Laurent (the latter in a very brief interview via fax) look back
on their careers but seem just as excited about the present scene.
Asked whether she minds when her singular designs are adapted for
more commercial uses, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons replies,
“If my ultimate goal was to achieve financial success, I would have
done things differently, but I want to create something new.”
Frings, Gini Stephens. Fashion: From Concept to Consumer. 6th ed. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Textbook offers a broad overview of every aspect of the fashion
industry, including its historical development, process of fabric
production, successful marketing strategies, and retailing and
merchandising. Useful timelines cover specific eras in fashion, the
popularity of influential designers, and the yearly international
schedule for couture collection and apparel line unveilings. While
furnishing little in-depth scholarship on fashion, this book is a useful
introductory resource for those unfamiliar with the history, creative
scope and inner-workings of the industry.
Galante, Pierre. Mademoiselle Chanel. Translated by Eileen Geist and Jessie
Wood. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1973.
Accessible overview of the life and career of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel
based on extensive research and interviews with people who worked
with or were otherwise close to the famous designer, especially
during her later years. Chanel’s dedication toward the “liberation” of
women from the confining nature of the Charles Fredrick Worth-era
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style is praised, while her often-contemptuous attitudes toward
her employees and peers (e.g., Schiaparelli, Courrèges, Cardin), and
her refusal to acknowledge the practicality of the post-World War II
“ready-to-wear” surge is criticized. Chanel’s refreshing acceptance
of imitation of styles and garments surfaces both early in her career
(opposing Paul Poiret, she states, “Fashion should not come from
the street, but it must reach down into it.”) and later on (“A copy is
a tribute to creation! A copy is love!”). Compelling sections deal
with Chanel’s initial foray into 1930s’ Hollywood, where she designed
for Marlene Dietrich, among other luminaries, and the development
of the wildly popular Chanel No. 5 fragrance. Chanel’s numerous
failed romances, general aloofness from her peers and essentially
solitary nature form the emotional thread that runs throughout
this biography.
Gerston, Jill. “Oscar Films/Glamour; Win or Lose, It’s How You Look That
Counts.” New York Times, March 10, 2002.
Lengthy, entertaining preview piece that bolsters New York Times
fashion editor Cathy Horyn’s subsequent review of the fashion buzz
on Oscar Night 2002. Many observers of the 1990s’ explosion in
Academy Awards fashion coverage offer analysis of the high stakes
involved for designers and — even more so, it is claimed — for
actresses. The author also provides crucial historical perspective:
Even after the Oscars became televised in 1953, actresses regularly
wore off-the-rack apparel (or in Joanne Woodward’s case, homemade clothing) for nearly 40 years as the world of haute couture
remained distant from Hollywood’s biggest night. Giorgio Armani’s
success in dressing several actors and actresses in the late-80s to
early-90s is held to be a key breakthrough, and since then, as the
author and others note, numerous Academy Awards attendees
have impacted celebrity culture (and the fashion pages) even as the
majority of Oscar-night dress decisions have become more cautious
and conservative.
Golbin, Pamela. Fashion Designers. New York: Watson-Guptill
Publications, 1999.
Encyclopedia of fashion designers from World War II onward is rich
with photographic and illustrative support. The author constructs
a thematic thread that runs through many of the entries: the ever
shifting relationship between couture and ready-to-wear in setting
trends and inspiring designers. Menswear is hardly discussed, but
otherwise this is a comprehensive and visually arresting overview
of the industry’s creative pioneers. Notable entries include: Azzedine Alaïa, Charles James, Halston, Thierry Mugler and Jil Sander,
among others.
Granatstein, Lisa. “Fashion Forward.” Mediaweek, Oct. 23, 2000.
Article quotes The End of Fashion’s Agins and others on the changing
forces in the fashion-publication marketplace, in which magazines
with a more populist ambience, such as Marie Claire and InStyle, have
gained sizeable circulations and newsstand sales. Long-established
fashion tomes, such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle, are examined
in comparison to this fast-rising new wave, and a vice president at
Polo Jeans notes that current editors and publishers are far more
receptive to consumer and public demand (be it a desire for more
celebrity coverage or more emphasis on streetwear) than were their
more authoritative predecessors from years past (such as Vogue’s
Diana Vreeland and Harper’s Bazaar’s Carmel Snow), who were “not
as involved in servicing the times.”
Gremillion, Jeff. “They Wear It Well.” Mediaweek, Jan. 27, 1997.
Report on the widespread upsurge in fashion-related advertising
space in entertainment-oriented publications notes the increased
amounts of editorial coverage of fashion-related topics as a primary
cause for this trend. Many established publications have embraced
fashion as a regularly recurring subject, from general pop-culture
chronicles (Entertainment Weekly, Us Weekly) to film (Premiere)
and music (Vibe, Rolling Stone) magazines. The nascent circulation
growth of the 2-year-old InStyle magazine also is cited as evidence
of a continuing fashion-entertainment convergence within the
publishing world.
Haedrich, Marcel. Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets. Translated by Charles
Markmann. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1972.
Biography of the fashion designer derives its narrative from personal
interviews the author conducted with Chanel beginning in 1959 and
continuing until her death in 1971. It follows that the most interesting material concerns Chanel’s late career: her return into couture
in the 1950s; her delight in devising and pronouncing numerous
“maxims” on fashion, style, and life and death (many of which are
collected on pages 251-255); her dissatisfaction with many designers
of the 50s and 60s; and her lifelong desire to create a lasting style
that overcomes the seasonal vagaries of the fashion system.
Heller, Zoë. “Movin’ On Up.” Vogue, March 2003: 554 +.
Report on the re-emergence of media darling-fashion designer
Isaac Mizrahi, one of the most lauded designers of the 1990s and
the subject of the 1995 documentary, Unzipped, who left Chanel in
1998 after failing to establish any profitable ready-to-wear lines.
Mizrahi’s comeback is ambitious: It involves the establishment of
a super-exclusive haute couture salon, IM to Order, and even more
risky, a contract with mass-market retailer Target for modestly priced
clothing. The designer intends to maintain his presence on the cable
channel Oxygen, where he has hosted The Isaac Mizrahi Show for
the previous three years. If his gambles pay off, the author believes
the likable Mizrahi may rise to the forefront of what has become a
fashion-entertainment synergy movement.
Hirschberg, Lynn. “Luxury In Hard Times.” New York Times Magazine,
Dec. 2, 2001: 68 +.
Magazine profile of fashion designer Tom Ford, the creative force
behind the phenomenal success of Gucci during the late-1990s, and
at the writing of this article, in charge of transforming the declining
Yves Saint Laurent house into a similarly powerful global brand.
In addition to coverage of Ford’s personal history, his unequaled
business acumen, his eye for others’ talent and his belief in astrology
(“I’m a Virgo”), Ford’s creative energies are praised — in particular,
his knack for recombining fashion from past eras into new statements is evidenced by 2001’s “shirt of the season,” a YSL blouse that
reworks a similar, “hippie” look from Saint Laurent’s mid-1970s’
heyday. Furthermore, Ford insists on envisioning his clothing within
a larger framework of a consumer’s desires: He comments on the
differences between a “Gucci” woman and a (more decadent) “YSL
woman,” and takes credit for recognizing that, in the age of satellites and the Internet, it is now possible for fashion-conscious people
around the world to share the same desires. Other topics in this
long, informative piece: French resistance to the American Ford’s reenvisioning of the YSL line; Ford’s and others’ comments concerning
the effect of 9-11 on the industry; and the designer’s awareness that
his stint at the pinnacle of the zeitgeist is, like fashion in general,
temporary: “At some point, I’ll be picking the shoe that only the
people over 50 will pick.”
Horyn, Cathy. “Critic’s Notebook: As the Dow Falls, Couture Turns
Contrarian.” New York Times, July 23, 2002.
Report from the couture shows in Paris examines the current creative
energies of several top design collections — Jean-Paul Gaultier, Karl
Lagerfeld, Christian Dior — and declares the discipline of “making
expensive clothes for rich women” is enjoying a vibrant renewal of
cultural relevance. The British host of E!’s Fashion File, Tim Blanks,
offers praise for the practice of haute couture, comparing the
experience of an elite fashion show to that of film or music. Dior
is praised for adapting “ethnic-inspired street styles” into its new
clothing, and Lagerfeld’s Chanel presentation is viewed as “subversive” in its mixing of tradition and transgression. In the author’s
estimation, ready-to-wear is suffering from creative stagnation due
to the demands of a recession-hindered marketplace, meaning that
“couture is now where the action is in fashion.”
———. “Critic’s Notebook; I’m Wearing … Fill in the Blank.”
New York Times, March 25, 2002.
Review-analysis of the red carpet cavorting before the 2002 Academy
Awards, when actresses draped in couture from the most expensive international designers displayed their choices for the media.
Numerous actress-designer combinations are scrutinized, and the
author digs beneath the glitz to reveal just how crucial these fleeting
moments have become for both creative worlds. The public relations
director for Chanel notes that photos of 1993 Oscar winner Marisa
Tomei (dressed in Chanel) still circulate in magazines, while a stylist
offers an unsettling view of the flipside of the Oscar-night spotlight
when she notes that “a lot of actresses are petrified to make a
mistake because it doesn’t go away for at least a year.”
———. “Critic’s Notebook; Unabashed Wal-Mart Shopper Speaks.”
New York Times, Aug. 27, 2002.
Insightful, personalized account of the mass-production model of the
world’s largest retailer, and how it, “in its own quirky way, seemed
to be in sync with what the magazines are showing for fall.” The
author, a Times fashion editor, recounts her experiences shopping
at Wal-Mart and how she often has fooled top fashionistas with her
bargain-bin attire. A telephone discussion with senior apparel executives from Wal-Mart’s Arkansas headquarters reveals that, while they
are aware of a trend in “cross-shopping” and have increased the
fashion-awareness and fitting specifications of several lines, they do
not intend to compete with other retailers (Target, Kohl’s) that have
made more overt efforts at courting the more discerning, style-
conscious consumer, instead aiming their marketing toward, as one
senior VP says, “the guts of this country.”
———. “Is Copying Really a Part of the Creative Process?” New York Times,
April 9, 2002.
Report concerns the revelation of a “lifting” by Nicolas Ghesquière,
the designer for über-hip French couture house Balenciaga, from
the deceased San Francisco designer Kaisik Wong. Wong’s angular,
multi-fabric vest first appeared in a photograph in the 1974 book
Native Funk & Flash, which Ghesquière admitted to having seen and
copied for his own vest for Balenciaga. The author comments that
the practice of plagiarism — be it indirect “referencing” or more
blatant reproduction — has long existed in the fashion industry on
many levels. This current example is chalked up to “postmodernism”
by the costume curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; criticized
by author Tom Wolfe (who personally knew Wong); and defended
by Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, a noted advocate of free
creative exchange. The online article includes color photographs of
both designs.
———. “Sexy Clothes, History Lesson Included.” New York Times,
March 3, 2003.
Review of the Fall 2003 fashion lines for several Italian-based
design houses in Milan concentrates on Tom Ford for Gucci and
Miuccia Prada and their creative invocation of past stylistic eras.
According to the author, recent global turmoil has caused designers
to become more conservative and predictable: “[I]nstead of trying
to offer something that responds to, and even counterbalances,
the emotional weight of the times, they’ve gone down an escapist
chute.” Thus, the new lines by Ford-Gucci and Prada, with their
recollection of 19 th century Edwardians and 1950s’ high society,
respectively, indicate to the author a positive reawakening to the
possibilities of creative homage.
———. “Young Stars of U.S. Fashion Can’t Seem to Find Right Fit.”
New York Times, Dec. 7, 2002.
Following the successive shop-closings of several once-promising
American designers (Isaac Mizrahi, Todd Oldham, John Bartlett, etc.),
the Times fashion writer interviews several observers who believe
that transformations in consumer demand and entrepreneurial
climate within the fashion industry mean that up-and-coming,
homegrown designers likely will never reach the level of market
dominance that Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein held for
decades. While designers overseas (and select American ones, such
as Marc Jacobs) enjoy strong financial backing from publicly owned
conglomerates, U.S. designers are faced with increased competition
from trendy discount shops and specialty chains as well as more costconscious, better-informed customers.
Ignelzi, R. J. “An Accessory to Crime.” San Diego Union-Tribune,
Nov. 19, 2002.
Report on the popularity of “purse parties” among upscale suburban
women in Southern California includes interviews with a party
organizer and seller, attendees-purchasers and representatives of the
fashion industry decrying the events. The merchandise sold at these
parties is inauthentic, and illegal, as these “knockoffs” are sold with
page 95
brand trademarks attached in Tijuana or on the street corners of the
Los Angeles garment district. One buyer rationalizes her activity as
“almost a spite thing” due to the exorbitant prices of real designer
handbags; another does holiday shopping at the parties.
Kaufman, Leslie. “Après Yves, Le Deluge?” New York Times, Jan. 20, 2002.
Examination of the importance of the celebrity fashion designer to
the overall industry and culture, using the retirement of Yves Saint
Laurent as a sign of an impending changing of the guard among top
designers (many of the more established and popular names have
reached retirement age). Several observers (including legendary
designers Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta) examine the issue, and
two conflicting perspectives are debated. Blass (interviewed months
before his death) generally views designers as “brand names” and
insists that, managed properly, a designer’s creative vision can be
maintained after retirement. Others claim that, due to the constant
change within the industry and, in many cases, the public’s identification with an individual designer’s celebrity, the odds are against
perpetuating a designer’s unique style after the individual no longer
is involved personally.
Kaufman, Leslie, and Abby Ellin. “The J.Lo Line Hits a Snag On Its Run for
the Top.” New York Times, June 16, 2002.
Report on the initial underperformance of actress-singer-megacelebrity Jennifer Lopez’s J.Lo clothing line in its first year. The article
presents several possible reasons: poor comfort, fit and overall
quality; high prices for the juniors market; and lack of coordination
during the Christmas 2001 season. Despite criticism from several
retailers, other observers (including Russell Simmons of urban-wear
trendsetter Phat Farm) believe that Lopez’s venture eventually will
succeed, and the authors note that the ambitious “barrio girl meets
Brooke Astor” already has lured a top designer away from exparamour Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ Sean John apparel company.
Kaye, Elizabeth. “Cloning Chic.” Los Angeles Magazine, Feb. 2001: 44 +.
Article explores the business strategy of Los Angeles-based designer
Allen B. Schwartz, whose self-named apparel company ABS has
earned notoriety and financial success — enough for a $20 millionplus buyout by Warnaco in 2000 — due to its popular replicas of
Oscar-night celebrity wardrobes. The author writes, “Call it an egregious act of theft, if you must, but also call it a stroke of brilliance, a
marketing gamble emanating from an instinct about who women are
and what they want.” Several of Schwartz’s most lucrative garments
are discussed, along with a brief overview of fashion’s struggle with
design protections. Schwartz defends his design house as more than
just a copycat operation, touting its high-quality craftsmanship and
increasing celebrity clientele.
Kellogg, Ann, Amy Paterson, Stefani Bay and Natalie Swindell. In An
Influential Fashion. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.
This encyclopedia of 19 th and 20 th century fashion designers and
companies focuses on those that made a lasting impact on the
industry and on culture in general. The book includes compact biographies, discussion of stylistic innovations, information on business
expansion, and, in some cases, illustrations of a designer’s landmark
design (i.e., Christian Dior’s “New Look” of the late-1940s). The
overall emphasis tilts slightly toward the American fashion industry,
but there are enough international designers and companies to make
this a useful general resource.
Kingswell, Tamsin. Red or Dead: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1998.
Slim volume recounting the history of the British “street fashion”
design house Red or Dead, which began as a market kiosk in London
during the early-1980s; introduced Doc Martens work boots into the
global fashion vernacular; and throughout the 1990s, established a
reputation as a bold, controversial, and often culturally trenchant
fashion brand that brought punk-rock attitudes into the present and
then exploded them. Interviews with founder Wayne Hemingway and
his partner-wife, Gerardine, are interposed with a pictorial history of
Red or Dead, with an emphasis on the designers’ adherence to a credo
of breaking down what they see as the boundaries of fashion: elitism,
expense, propriety and political neutrality. In turn, the Hemingways’
fashion line draws inspiration from the culture at large (other
designers, music, film, current affairs, personal experiences and, of
course, “the street”). Pages 19-20 feature some of Red or Dead’s T-shirt
parodies of corporate logos (the Hemingways sold their ownership
stock in Red or Dead a year after this book’s publication).
Kuczynksi, Alex. “Trading on Hollywood Magic.” New York Times,
Jan. 30, 1999.
Opening with a declaration from the editor of the monthly fashion
magazine Allure — “Nobody cares about models anymore” — this
report examines the widespread changeover from models to celebrities as cover subjects for women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines.
Sales figures for 1998 for major magazines with celebrity covers
are contrasted with those featuring models, and the results clearly
indicate that public interest has changed since the supermodel era
of the early-1990s. Cultural critic Neal Gabler opines that models
are too one-dimensional for today’s celebrity-obsessed culture,
while the onscreen personaes and gossip-generating private lives of
Hollywood performers give people what the author labels an “illusion of substance.” As in other articles, the success of InStyle magazine is cited as a prime agent in this shift from model to celebrity; the
author observes this trend has not affected overseas markets, where
models still dominate magazine covers.
La Ferla, Ruth. “All Fashion, Almost All the Time.” New York Times,
March 29, 1998.
Report on the influx of new fashion-oriented programming on
cable television in the late-1990s, focusing on the E! Entertainment
Television network. The article discusses programs such as the makeover show Fashion Emergency; the how-to, behind-the-scenes format
of Model TV; and the more adulatory series Fashion File and Video
Fashion Weekly, along with E!’s most popular fashion excursion, the
Joan and Melissa Rivers-hosted awards show coverage. Most of those
interviewed believe this growth will endure, as Hollywood continues
to embrace fashion and style as crucial elements of contemporary
entertainment.
———. “Front Row.” New York Times, Jan. 21, 2003.
Review of the Golden Globe Awards held in Los Angeles, focusing
on the fashion-conscious, televised pre-show in which actresses
wear couture dresses from top international designers and stroll
past dozens of photographers as they enter the venue. Actress Laura
Flynn Boyle’s faux-ballerina dress is discussed, as is the uncharacteristically reserved tone of traditional red carpet arbiter Joan Rivers.
According to the author, rumors of designer payoffs to celebrities in
return for adornment surrounded the event, revealing the highstakes fashion publicity that now is up for grabs at the formerly
largely ignored Golden Globes. Just as the Globes now are seen as
a gauge of Oscar night revelations, so too are the celebrities’ red
carpet fashion choices.
———. “This Star for Rent, Now That Stigma Fades.” New York Times,
April 8, 2001.
“As the line between art and commerce continues to erode,” more
entertainers are signing contracts to advertise fashion products than
ever before, according to the author. Numerous examples are listed,
from the hiring of Jeremy Irons and Milla Jovovich for a major Donna
Karan print campaign to the long-term signing of Uma Thurman
to cosmetics titan Lancome. This trend is linked to the increased
celebritization of fashion in general, and offers further proof that the
supermodel era is over. Some critics warn that the overuse of celebrities
in product endorsements might spur a backlash, but others see it as the
new preferred marketing paradigm, for both performers and products.
———. “Who Stole Fashion’s Show?” New York Times, Sept. 12, 1999.
Engaging analysis of the diminished impact biannual fashion
shows — and high-end fashion designers in general — have on the
daily workings of the industry at large, both in terms of affecting
economic strategies and establishing current styles. Now, the author
observes, the most influential trends in fashion’s cycle more often
arise from small boutiques, “fashion titans” such as Donna Karan and
Ralph Lauren, Hollywood and the street than from the couturier’s
catwalk (Tommy Hilfiger’s then-hot alignment with hip-hop stars
is given as fact of this shift). Teri Agins’ recently released book,
The End of Fashion, is used to support the author’s argument, and
Target’s popularity as a source for affordable, mass-appeal style also
is discussed. The evidence points to a continuing erosion of the traditional, top-down hierarchy of fashion dissemination; as the president
of Nicole Miller observes, “People want fast fashion. They’re not
waiting for the runways to find out what these gurus think.”
Laboy, Julio. “Clothiers Bring the Barrio to Japanese Teen Rebels.”
Wall Street Journal, April 8, 1998.
Enlightening report on the mid- to late-90s phenomenon of Japanese
youth purchasing Chicano-style clothing from independent, “streetborn” Southern California apparel makers. The growth of this trend is
conveyed through the rise of Tribal Streetwear, Inc., the most popular
of several cutting-edge, populist brands, and cultural reasons for this
cross-Pacific transmission also are examined (the clothes are just a part
of a larger Hispanic influence that many young Japanese reformulate
to build their own “outsider” subculture). In addition, the article
explores the cooperative business relationship between streetwear
fashion manufacturers; the founders of several companies believe that
word-of-mouth exposure can assist the streetwear fashion industry as a
whole in reaching its overseas market more effectively.
Lacher, Irene. “Style Wars.” Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 22-28, 2002.
Like several entries in this bibliography, this report investigates the
importance of Oscar night — “the Super Bowl of fashion” — but
delves into the pressure-packed event preparation to spotlight a
growing rift between designers and stylists for control of what the
stars wear. Accusations are levied on both sides: The stylists are
piggybacking on the fame of their clientele and have no innate
talent, and the designers are succumbing to super-hyped pressure
by lavishing stars and stylists with perks, in some cases even paying
them to wear their clothing. Rather naively, the author claims the
public is “oblivious to the machinations going on behind the scenes.”
Lacher’s piece bookends three smaller segments by reporter Polly
Wilson that feature illuminating interviews with several successful
stylists (including teen-pop dresser Stephanie Wolf); fashion
designers (Bob Mackie and others); and costume designers (who
provide particular insight into the creative process they must manage
while creating a “look” for a particular film).
Malossi, Giannino, ed. The Style Engine. New York: The Monacelli Press,
Inc., 1998.
Featuring over 20 wide-ranging and largely insightful essays, and
a unique visual design with numerous striking photographs and
illustrations, this book — the result of a collaborative labeled the
Fashion Engineering Unit — captures the contemporary fashion
industry in all of its hectic appeal. Most of the authors hail from Italy,
yet the book’s focus is on assessing fashion as a global phenomenon.
Standout essays include: Andrea Balestri and Marco Ricchetti’s
economic history of the industry (158-175); Domenico De Masi’s piece
on fashion’s creative process (128-133); Ted Polhemus’ essay on postmodern fashion as an instrument of identity creation (72-79); and the
Fashion Institute of Technology’s Valerie Steele’s rhetorical exercise,
“Why People Hate Fashion” (66-70). Overall, the book presents an
ambitious and successful synthesis of diverse intellectual perspectives
concerning fashion and its effect on culture.
May, Christopher. A Global Political Economy of Intellectual Property
Rights. London: Routledge, 2000.
Engaging overview of the myriad issues facing the global economy as
it relates to the ownership of creative ideas, inventions and designs.
The author examines the theoretical underpinnings of intellectual property law and how economic transactions are facilitated
through international agreements, the latest being trade-related
aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) from the World Trade
Organization’s (WTO) inaugural charter. Piracy issues are covered
on pages 151-157, and the author provides useful commentary
on how the fashion industry deals (or chooses not to deal) with
the widespread “knocking off” of designs. He concludes with the
following insight: “[T]he coverage of intellectual property needs to
be tempered by a fully developed and robust public domain but not
completely abolished” (178).
McDowell, Colin. Fashion Today. London: Phaidon Press, 2000.
Voluminous, discerning overview of the fashion industry at the turn
of the millennium that focuses on developments dating from Dior’s
page 97
“New Look” onward. The author, a fashion writer for London’s
Sunday Times, dissects the industry from several perspectives, each
comprising a separate, non-chronological chapter (representative
topics-chapters include: “Designer as Superstar,” “Selling the Dream”
and “The Lure of Retro”). A staggering array of photographs supplement the textual flow, which, despite its breadth, further manages
to illuminate what the author regards is fashion’s positive — even
potentially liberating — catalyzing role in postwar culture, as stated
in the introduction: “For the first time in history, fashion is now
perceived as central to existence by vast numbers of people of all
ages and social backgrounds, many of whom have been traditionally
excluded from its influence.”
McKinney, Jeffrey. “Rags to Riches.” Black Enterprise. Part 4 of a series
titled “The Hip-Hop Economy,” Sept. 2002: 98 +.
In-depth article on the tremendous growth of several “urban
apparel” companies with close ties to the hip-hop music community.
Performer-producer Sean “P. Diddy” Combs proclaims that the
goal of his fashion line Sean John is “to bring entertainment into
fashion,” and his close relationships with numerous celebrities in
and out of hip-hop have enabled Sean John’s upscale attire to grab
market share from more established designers. Combs, Jay-Z of
Rocawear and Russell Simmons of Phat Farm collectively represent “a
new breed of hip-hop magnate, who is creating thriving businesses
through sartorial innovation, marketing savvy, and star power.” The
pioneering urban fashion companies Karl Kani and FUBU also are
analyzed, and estimated revenues for 2001 are included for all five
design houses.
Mencken, Jennifer. “A Design for the Copyright of Fashion.” Paper
included on the Intellectual Property and Technology Forum’s Web site
at Boston College Law School, Dec. 12, 1997. [www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/
law/st_org/iptf/articles/content/1997121201.html]
Exhaustively researched position paper argues for the extension
of copyright protection to fashion garment designs. The author
reaches into the history of the fashion industry to detail how various
trademark, patent and trade restrictions have provided a cumbersome
framework of protection for fashion products (only the fabric design
is copyrightable), and notes that the blurry, subjective distinction
between the aesthetic versus utilitarian functions of clothing has kept
courts from making a forceful decision on the issue. While the lack of
a clear copyright protection for fashion has not hindered the industry’s
creative momentum, the author believes the moral rights of artistic
fashion designers are usurped habitually by the thievery of copycat
manufacturers in the current scenario. Mencken thinks a time-limited,
“necessarily thin” copyright protection that includes a licensing system
better would serve both consumers and fashion designers.
Moore, Booth. “Redesigning and Redefining the House of Halston.”
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 27, 2002.
Interview-supported report on the leadership shift at the longbeleaguered Halston design house, where Los Angeles designer and
TV personality Bradley Bayou is the new creative director. Discussion
centers around Bayou’s successful track record in fashion and entertainment, which is compared with Halston’s rise during the 60s and
70s as “one of the first celebrity-designers” (for Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis, Studio 54, etc.), before the designer and his imprint over
licensed and fell into decline in the 80s. Bayou’s designing of couture
dresses for Halle Berry and Oprah Winfrey; his stint on daytime
television’s The View; and his Lifetime program, Operation Style, all
point to his populist, entertainment-oriented approach that potentially may resuscitate the brand.
———. “Then Again, Yes: With Minis, Shifts and Lean Jackets, Designers
Put a Fresh Spin on the 1960s.” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17, 2003.
Report on the Fall 2003 collection fashion shows of several leading
designers in New York City begins with commentary on how several
lines share stylistic roots in 60s’ culture (particularly Carnaby StreetSwinging London, “mod versus rocker” fashion). Also discussed: Los
Angeles designer Jeremy Scott’s homage to Hollywood’s influence with
his fashion premiere at the end of the week, which involved filming his
models’ displays in one red carpet area and then showing the footage
in real time to the audience in a screening room.
Mower, Sarah. “The Talent Club.” Vogue, March 2003: 278-294.
“People with an original aesthetic, thinking laterally about the
times we live in.” So defined are a group of up-and-coming
fashion designers from around the world, a group that “revels in
color, beauty, quality, wit, and romance; something altogether
different from the rough, oppositional stuff associated with upstart
designers through the nineties.” In many cases, this “revolt into
glamour” movement draws from cross-cultural influences (one
British designer updates the 1960s’ sci-fi Amazon look of Roger
Vadim’s Barbarella, for instance). Despite the unforgiving economic
climate, the author believes that many of these designers have the
ingenuity and professional focus to make a lasting international
name for themselves.
Mui, Nelson. “Ms. Perfect Opts Out.” New York Times, Aug. 19, 2001.
Article employs interviews with several young to middle-age
Manhattan fashionistas to explore a larger trend-in-the-making:
a “quiet revolt” against upscale, expensive designer clothing and
the considerable time it takes daily to create a full-fledged, trendy
appearance. Valerie Steele of the Fashion Institute of Technology
notes that the increasing focus on celebrities in fashion media has
made the general populace more susceptible to fashion conformity,
resulting in the formation of an opposition (or, more accurately, an
“opting out”) movement of sorts.
Oldham, Todd. Without Boundaries. New York: Universe Publishing, 1997.
This book contains a series of interviews with the popular and
eclectic designer Todd Oldham, along with visually arresting
photographs of his design (primarily fashion, plus some interior
decorating and other materials from the 1990s) and essays from
friends and admirers. Oldham, interviewed by New York writer
Jen Bilik, expounds on his fondness for the mixing of cultures high
and low, past and present, local and international; he discusses his
formative influences (growing up in Texas and in Iran, “outsider”
art, Sears catalogs); and states his belief that creativity is a process of
referencing both past influence and a hope for the future together
in a current, momentary form (20).
Olivier, Ellen Appel. “Style & Culture: Star Clients Keep Stylists On the
Run.” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 24, 2003.
Since “the public’s interest in red-carpet attire is insatiable,”
observes the author, “for stars, fashion-consciousness is no longer
optional.” This report follows one Los Angeles fashion stylist, Fati
Parsia, during the Paris haute couture shows as she selects apparel
for her A-list clientele to wear during upcoming awards shows
and events. Overall, this account provides a concise assessment of
the current mutually beneficial interplay between celebrities and
couturiers, exemplified by the huge amount of publicity generated
by Halle Berry’s Oscar dress in 2002, created by Lebanese designer
Elie Saab and chosen for Berry by stylist Phillip Bloch.
Patner, Josh. “Cool as a Cupcake.” Slate, June 20, 2003. [www.slate.msn.
com/id/2084044]
Online opinion piece assesses New York designer Marc Jacobs,
whose popularity as a purveyor of hip sportswear for the high-end
consumer market has come to surpass his more rarefied creations for
Louis Vuitton in terms of hipster cachet. According to the author, the
key to Jacobs’ appeal lies in his willingness to reference past designs
— and popular culture in general — with a self-conscious, gleeful
panache (making him the “Moby of the runway”). Often erroneously
labeled a knockoff artist for the cognoscenti, the author argues
Jacobs’ “cultural zeitgeisting” talent instead indicates a redefinition of what makes a modern fashion designer successful, elevating
cleverness over innovation and thus “shifting the very standards by
which the craft will be judged in the future.”
Piaggi, Anna. Anna Piaggi’s Fashion Algebra. Translated by Cecilia Treves.
London: Thames & Hudson, 1998.
Massive, visually fascinating anthology of the collage work created
by Vogue Italia fashion editor Anna Piaggi, covering 10 years of her
signature “Double Pages” that appeared in the glamour magazine
(selections from 1988-98). Inspired by “the radical simplicity and the
natural condition of spreads, of open pages,” each of the “Double
Pages” expands on a singular, imaginative concept. Piaggi’s eye for
fashion leads to boundless juxtapositions, some more literal than
others, nearly all intriguing (the text is in Italian, but a fold-out
page at the end of each chapter lists descriptions of each collage
in English). Taken as a whole, Piaggi’s oeuvre is a testament to the
rapid, unfettered pulse of fashion creativity; nothing is off limits to
her and the talents she salutes in every issue. A brief segment closes
the book, offering among other items a track listing of one of Gianni
Versace’s runway mix tapes from the early-1990s.
Pressler, Margaret Webb. “Who’s Got the Look?” Austin AmericanStatesman, Aug. 27, 1998.
Account of the charges leveled by retailer Abercrombie & Fitch
against its chief competitor, American Eagle, in a lawsuit filed in June
1998. Abercrombie & Fitch, then at the height of its popularity as
a provider of trendy apparel for teen and young-adult consumers,
accused American Eagle of “ripping off” many of its designs, as well
as its marketing plan (which featured quarterly catalogs mixing
photo spreads, clothing inventory and lifestyle-oriented articles). An
industry consultant defends American Eagle by noting that the rapid
adaptation of others’ design elements is a core practice within the
fashion industry. A district court ruled in favor of American Eagle,
and in February 2002, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the
ruling, citing that the “functionality” of A & F’s clothing meant that
it couldn’t be protected as trade dress.
Quintanilla, Michael. “Gotta Have It: Magazine’s Team of Savvy Young
Shoppers ‘Hot Picks’ Coolest Fashions.” Los Angeles Times,
Sept. 6, 2002.
Narrative report dissects the fashion picks and pans of a group of
“trend spotters” selected by Teen People magazine to attend a
Magic International trade convention in Las Vegas. In interviews,
the selected teens (ages 16 to 20) describe how their style decisions
are made: Fit and appearance matter more than cost, and all the
biggest influences come from entertainment (music videos, films,
celebrities). The young people’s tastes range from mainstream
retailers (Target, Abercrombie & Fitch) and new, trendy lines (Sean
John) to thrift-store chic. The report notes that during the 2001
economic downturn, teen spending on apparel rose 4 percent from
the previous year.
Rochlin, Margy. “Oscar Films/The Show; Taking No Prisoners at the Edge
of the Red Carpet.” New York Times, March 4, 2001.
Profile of E! Entertainment Television’s awards show fashion critic
Joan Rivers briefly recounts her pre-E! career as a standup comedian and failed Johnny Carson rival in late-night television, but
mainly focuses on her relationship with both the entertainers with
whom she interacts and her large (for cable) fan base. Regarding
Hollywood’s recent conservatism on the red carpet, Rivers says, “I
want everybody to look pretty, but I am always praying for at least
one tramp.”
Schoolman, Judith. “Calvin Klein’s Sew Mad: Designer and Partner in
Rag Trade Legal Battle.” New York Daily News, Jan. 14, 2001.
Report on the acrimonious litigation between designer Calvin Klein
and apparel manufacturer Warnaco, (which was settled days later,
just before the trial was set to commence). Designer Klein alleged
that Warnaco, which had licensing rights to Calvin Klein jeans and
underwear, “diluted” the brand by shipping clothes to discount
retailers such as Sam’s Club and Costco. Such practices are “the
equivalent of counterfeiting,” said then-Calvin Klein CEO Barry
Schwartz when the suit was filed in the spring of 2000.
Seabrook, Jack. “A Samurai In Paris.” New Yorker, Mar. 17, 2003: 100 +.
Profile of International Herald Tribune fashion editor Suzy Menkes,
who has covered couture for the newspaper since 1988. Widely
regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and influential
commentators on fashion, Menkes reflects on her personal history;
discusses her relationships with designers both established and
up-and-coming; and comments on the overall state of the industry,
saving her most cutting criticism for more recent developments that
have endangered the “artistry” and exclusivity of couture (American
fashion’s overemphasis on celebrity coverage, for example). The
author, a cultural critic who penned the marketing exposé Nobrow,
also makes several astute observations about the transformation of
the global fashion industry in the 1990s.
page 99
Steele, Valerie. Fifty Years of Fashion. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1997.
Concise, accessible overview of global fashion from Dior’s “New
Look” to the trends of the mid-1990s. The author does not attempt
to provide a comprehensive history but instead offers an opinionated
assessment of prevalent styles, trends and designers through the
decades, as well as noteworthy commentary on Dior’s popularity in
the 1950s; Balenciaga’s enduring influence; the 60s’ “Youthquake”;
the rise of licensing; 70s’ “anti-fashion”; and Karl Lagerfeld’s tenure
at Chanel during the 1980s, among other topics. Representative
photographs from each era are interposed with apparel from the
museum collection of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology,
where Steele serves as director.
Tagliabue, John. “Fakes Blot a Nation’s Good Names.” New York Times,
July 3, 1997.
In-depth report on the preponderance of counterfeiting in Italy,
focusing on the leather goods sector of the fashion industry as well
as consumer electronics. Ironically, the author observes, many of
the fake Prada and Dior handbags currently disseminated worldwide were crafted by the same people responsible for the original,
commissioned articles, resulting in a near-perfect verisimilitude that
makes them far harder to detect — and potentially far more devastating a problem — than Asian-made counterfeits. The communal,
“entrepreneurial” nature of many Italian shop workers and craftspeople results in an environment that values steady employment
and local benefits over the intellectual property demands of distant
corporate entities, say several experts, who also note that Italy has
less stringent legal safeguards against piracy than other EU nations.
Tkacik, Maureen. “The Return of Grunge.” Wall Street Journal,
Dec. 11, 2002.
The MTV-sanctioned arrival of pop and rock music performers
Avril Lavigne and The Strokes, among others, signifies a return to
“grunge”-like fashions for retailers and designers, according to the
author. The brief, early-1990s grunge fad, spurred by the popularity
of rock bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam (whose members collectively embodied a thrown-together, denim- and flannel-saturated
fashion image), now is due for a revival of sorts, since the teenage
and 20-something fans of these new artists were of elementaryschool age when the first wave of grunge fashion hit. This more
“authentic” and street-savvy movement may be a reaction to the
prefabricated pop music and fashions of teen idols such as Britney
Spears and NSYNC, and the author notes that some popular retail
stores (such as Abercrombie & Fitch) have been impacted negatively
by the grunge semi-revival due to their concentration on more staid,
“preppy” designs.
Trebay, Guy. “From Milan, Soccer Cowboys.” New York Times, June 29,
2003.
Report on the Winter 2003 fashion collection shows from Milan notes
the current penchant for stylistic references to past eras by designers
such as Tom Ford for Gucci, whose rugged, “wrangler”-esque
Western wear is well-suited for a younger, sexier, trendier George W.
Bush, according to the author. Other design houses, from Prada to
Fendi to Calvin Klein, also feature Western motifs in their new lines,
while Dolce & Gabbana’s new apparel trends toward attracting the
“metrosexual” or David Beckham (U.K. soccer star-celebrity) demographic. The DSquared fraternal twin team constructed a 1950s’
“Happy Days” set for their collection, which “wittily” references
late-1950s’ to early-1960s’ American pop culture in its styles (James
Dean, Thunderbirds, early Beach Boys).
———. “London: The Town That Would Be King Again.” New York Times,
Nov. 19, 2002.
“As it happens, plurality may be the news from fashionable London, as
the design scene here evolves beyond the stale and often monolithic
nature of the apparel trade.” So begins this account of fashion trends
in a formerly dominant global center, which is now an incubator for
upstart designers intent on creatively challenging what they regard
as the stagnation of the elite global superpowers. These bohemian
designers in the East End and brash, politically edgy boutiques
dispersed in and around the Soho district already have captured the
attention of several major designers, as well as valuable support from
names in both mainstream celebrity (football’s David Beckham) and
the cutting-edge, underground (“electroclash” musicians).
———. “What’s Stonewashed, Ripped, Mended and $2,222?”
New York Times, April 17, 2001.
This analysis of the importance of denim jeans in the fashion industry
briefly recounts the history of blue jeans in U.S. fashion: their origin
in the California gold rush era; their mass acceptance post World
War II, particularly within youth culture; and the designer-jeans
boom in the 1970s, etc. The author spends more time analyzing the
recent inclusion of denim into the lines of several high-end designer
collections (such as Britain’s Stella McCartney and New York’s Marc
Jacobs). Most of these jeans are intentionally ripped or otherwise
roughed up in order to create an artificially unique history for each
garment (Dolce & Gabbana’s most “authentic” version retails for
over $2,000).
Trebay, Guy, and Ginia Bellafante. “Prada: Luxury Brand With World-Class
Anxiety.” New York Times, Dec. 18, 2001.
Report on the expansion of the Prada empire into several vast,
architecturally unique superstores around the world, and the overall
surge in acquisitions that has threatened to over saturate the market
with what once was regarded as an exclusive, luxury brand. The
conflicting goals of “reaching a broad market” and “also retaining
the intrinsic cachet of being the cognoscenti’s chosen brand” are
discussed, and several observers of Prada’s ambitious strategy believe
the brand has placed so much financial stake in the mass market
that it has no choice but to forsake its elite aura (a poll cited from
Women’s Wear Daily found that Prada did not place in the Top 100
most recognizable international fashion brands).
Troy, Nancy. Couture Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003.
The author states in the introduction: “My interest in haute couture
lies in the contradictions engendered by its production of supposedly unique garments for elite clients and multiple copies for mass
consumption.” Using the early-20 th century career of successful
French couturier Paul Poiret as a guide, Troy examines the tension
between artistic aspirations and commercial concerns that the exclusive realm of haute couture faced as its influence spread across the
world, and especially into the mass-market wonderland of America.
Poiret’s struggles with this dichotomy after he found his designs
were being widely copied in America — his attempts to instigate
changes in U.S. copyright law, his introduction of his own line of
“genuine reproductions” — are contrasted with Marcel Duchamp’s
provocative “readymade” art from the same period, which isolated
and imbued functional, everyday objects with aesthetic qualities.
The author also covers other designers and issues of the era in this
exhaustively researched, finely illustrated study (in particular, U.S.
and French intellectual property laws of the 1910s and 1920s are
analyzed and compared in Chapter Three).
Wellington, Elizabeth. “From Shady Beginnings, Knockoffs Rise to
Respectability and Big Profit.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 7, 2002.
Brief article on the increasing popularity of “knockoff” fashion
apparel focuses on merchandise sold over the Internet. Several
young, trend-conscious consumers explain their decision to downscale (due primarily to the economic downturn and the improvement
in knockoff design quality), and the owners-operators of a popular
knockoff Web site reflect on the origins and growth of their business (born out of the mass Internet-related layoffs of 2000-2001).
A trend-watcher in New York notes that knockoff merchants are
making money off of the talent and creativity of couture designers.
White, Constance. “A Casual Revolution is Heating Up.” New York
Times, Feb. 27, 1996.
Report on the movement away from high-end couture within the
designer community as a result of the growing popularity of casual
wear, particularly in America. Citing the influence of Friends characters’ fashions, the author observes there is a “sea change” underway
in style, one in which designers must accommodate their customers’
desire for more comfortable, versatile-yet-trendy apparel by shoring
up their lower-priced lines. Designers Gianni Versace and Donna
Karan are interviewed and both express approval of this cultural
shift.
———. “The Rise of the Stylist: A Double-Edged Sword.” New York Times,
Sept. 1, 1998.
Article examines fashion stylists’ growing stature within the industry,
highlighting the interrelationship between stylist and designer on
a designer’s clothing line in terms of overall presentation. Several
interview subjects are critical of the stylists’ responsibilities, stating
that stylists’ commitment to establishing hip, international trends
dilutes competing designers’ unique creative visions and results in
far-too-similar collections. Hollywood’s and celebrities’ increased
prominence in 90s fashion is discussed as a contributing factor to the
stylists’ newfound decision-making power.
Wilson, Elizabeth. Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1985.
For the author, 20 th century fashion is a central component in selfcreation, a way for people to “express and define their individuality.”
Wilson analyzes fashion as a by-product of modernity and capitalism,
inextricably linked to the rise of the metropolis and susceptible
to exploitation. However, she also envisions fashion as a “kind of
connective tissue of our cultural organism,” and a source for much
pleasure and creativity. The author devotes individual chapters to
such topics as: the economics of the industry, fashion and sexuality,
fashion and feminism and fashion in popular culture. In Chapter
Three, “Explaining It Away,” she examines several well-known
theoretical approaches to fashion, from Thorstein Veblen’s early-20 th
century consumerist critiques to Jean Baudrillard’s postmodernist
assesment to Roland Barthes’ influential semiotic analysis. Wilson
argues that previous theories on fashion too often overlook its
important aesthetic appeal; her own perspective draws from the
ideas of such critics of modernity as Walter Benjamin, Marshall
Berman and Fredric Jameson.
Yokogawa, Joselle. “Steady Rockin’.” California Apparel News,
Feb. 7-13, 2003.
Trade publication interviews two veteran street performers, breakdancers Crazy Legs and Easy Roc of the Rock Steady Crew, about their
observations on current underground or “street” fashion trends.
Both liken the creativity and fluidity of fashion to that of dance and
music, especially hip-hop and punk. Each is outfitted in a photo
layout with apparel from designers that also was featured in the
March 2003 Magic International industry showcase. w
author biography
PATRICK REED
Patrick Reed has contributed to several projects for the Norman Lear Center, including “The Tyranny
of 18 to 49” and “Ready to Share.” He has worked for a variety of businesses and non-profits since
the late-1990s as a writer, researcher, film critic, copyeditor and video producer. He received a B.A. in
telecommunications with a concentration in film studies from the University of Kentucky and an M.A.
in popular culture from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He lives in Frankfort, Kentucky. w
page 101
Resources: Index
resources: index
A
Armani, Giorgio 38
Banana Republic 23
ABS 38
Art, Arts 7, 11, 12, 19-22, 37,
41, 47, 51, 55, 61, 75
conceptual art 34
and fashion 34, 35
Barneys 60
A.V. by Versace 23
Academia, academics 7, 52,
53, 61, 75
Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition 77
37, 38, 40, 41, 55, 58, 60, 74,
75
Beastie Boys 59, 63
Bricolage 9, 10, 29, 31, 32, 34,
41, 42
Beatles, The 9, 43, 77
Bridge lines 60
Beaton, Cecil 12, 28, 75
Brooks Brothers 34
Bell bottoms 22
Brooks-Meyers, Inez 48
Birds, The 49
Brown, Foxy 35
Birkin handbag 41, 64
Brown, John Seely 74, 75, 77,
80
Academy Awards 38, 63, 77
Accessories 19, 20, 30, 33, 34,
36, 41, 53, 60, 63
Adolfo 33
Artists 9, 11-13, 19, 24, 29,
33-36, 40, 42, 47, 48, 51, 53-55,
58, 59
see also specific artists,
designers, musicians and
recording artists
Blahnik, Manolo 77
Adair, Cate 74, 75-77, 79
Adrian 48
Agins, Teri 32
Albums 42, 43, 47, 48, 59, 63,
64, 74, 77
see also specific albums
Almeida, Laurendo 94
Tom Ford.
Attali, Jacques 47, 50, 51, 53,
54
Attorneys 9, 10, 43, 59
see also specific attorneys
Audience 37, 51, 54, 59, 60, 77
Budweiser 37
Blige, Mary J. 35
Black Album, 43, 77
Black dress
see Coco Chanel
Bundy, Barbara 10, 74-76,
79, 80
Burberry 37, 41
Burberry, Thomas 37
Authors 10, 42, 57, 59, 74
see also specific authors
Blues 24
BoingBoing 42
Burnett, T Bone 11, 74, 75, 77,
80, 81
“Alphabet Song” 50
Azzaro 74
Anyknockoff.com 38
B
Bollier, David 7, 10, 44, 74-76,
79
“Business of Creativity, The”
75, 77
Apodaca, Rose 74, 75, 77, 79,
88
BET 60
Boot cut 22
C
Baby boomers 77
Bootleg 47
CBS 12
Baby Einstein 50
Borrowing see copying
Cage, John 61
Bach, Johann Sebastian 52, 61
Brand Name Bullies: The
Quest to Own and Control
Culture 44, 76, 79
Carol Barnhart v. Economy
Cover Corp. 20
Apparel 10, 17, 19, 20-23, 3038, 40, 41, 43, 50, 51, 53-55,
57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64, 75
Apple iTunes 65
Appropriation see copying
Balenciaga 33, 38, 40, 48,
55, 63
Branding 11, 19, 23, 24, 32-35,
Celebrity 30, 32, 34-36, 38, 40,
42, 56, 77
page 103
Resources: Index
Celine 35
Center for the Public Domain 7, 11,
44, 73, 74, 84
Central Saint Martins College 53
Chanel, Coco 12, 33, 37, 38, 42, 55
and black dress 37, 38, 42
Consumers 7, 17, 19, 22-24, 31, 32,
38, 42, 51, 53, 55, 56, 58, 60-65
Content 24, 29, 42, 43, 75, 77
Control 11, 12, 17, 24, 29, 30, 36, 37,
41, 47, 50, 53-64
see also ownership
Converse sneakers 36, 64
Chanel, House of 16, 33, 41, 42, 55,
58, 60, 75, 77
Chanel jacket 13, 16, 64, 75, 77
“Chanel or Fauxnel? A Legendary
Jacket … Unraveled” 16, 75, 77
Cheney Bros. v. Doris Silk Corp 56
Clear Channel 60
Copying 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 23, 24,
29-35, 37, 38, 40-42, 48, 49, 56, 58,
59, 64, 73
impact of intellectual property
law on 9, 12, 17, 18
Creativity, Commerce & Culture
project 7, 44, 73, 89
Culture 7, 9, 10, 24, 31, 29, 32-38,
42, 47-49, 51, 54-56, 61, 63-65,
73-75, 77
digital media, Internet 10, 29,
31, 42, 47;
fashion 11, 32, 34, 37, 38, 42, 48,
55, 65, 75;
music, mash-up 47, 49, 54, 61,
63, 65
Copyleft see GNU
Cunningham, Bill 35
Copyright 9, 10, 11, 17-27, 29, 31-34,
41, 42, 47-49, 54, 56-58, 61, 63-65,
74, 77
see also digital media and
fashion and law and music
Clothing see apparel
D
Dolce & Gabbana 35
Doneger Group, The 74, 85
Dooney & Bourke 23
Dress, dresses 6, 17, 18, 20, 23, 28,
30, 31, 33-38, 42, 46, 50, 55, 64
see also apparel and fashion
and specific dress styles
and trade dress
Duke Law School 10
Copyright Act of 1976 57
Davis, Miles 61
Duff, Hilary 47
De Jager, Hugo 52
E
De La Renta, Oscar 33, 60
EMI Music 74, 77, 81
Cohen, Ted 74-77, 81
Copyright and Copywrongs: The
Rise of Intellectual Property and
How It Threatens Creativity 74,
75, 85
Decades, Inc. 35, 49, 74, 84
Ecko, Marc 36
Coltrane, John 52
Copyright Office 20
Deluxe minimalism 77
“Ecology of Creativity, The” 77
Combs, Sean 35, 36
Costa, Victor 38
Denim see jeans
Economics 9, 10, 12, 24, 30, 51, 53,
54, 56, 59-63, 65
Coca-Cola 22, 23
Community 12, 31, 32, 42, 48-51,
53-55, 57-62, 64, 65
fashion 48, 49, 53-55, 57, 64;
music 50, 51, 53, 54, 59-62,
64, 65
Competition 17, 19, 23, 24, 30, 32,
36, 41-43, 51, 56, 58, 60, 61, 75
see also economics
Composers 53, 54, 59
see also specific composers
Compositions 21, 52, 57, 61-63
Congress 10, 19, 20, 56, 57
Constitution, The 18, 56
Derivation see copying
Edressme.com 38
Counterfeiting 23, 37, 38, 40, 41
see also knockoff and theft
Couture see haute couture
Cox, Christine 10, 25
Crane, Diane 55
Education 7, 64
Eminem 35
Design patent 10, 19-22
see also patent and utility patent and law
Desperate Housewives 74, 76, 77,
79
Creative Commons 9, 56, 58, 59
Diaz, Cameron 56
Creativity 7, 9-13, 18, 24, 29-43, 73,
75, 77
ecology of 9, 29, 75, 77;
fashion as model of 9, 18, 24,
29-43, 75;
future of 11, 12, 41-43;
Digital
culture 7, 10, 29-43
media 10, 24, 29-43, 61-63, 75,
77;
music 61-63, 65;
technology 12, 24, 32, 61-64
Hollywood 56
Fashionknockoffs.com 38
Givenchy 33
Hollywood Records 47, 48
Faux 36
Globalization 42, 53, 61, 63, 64
Fauxnel see Chanel
Gluck, Marissa 11, 66
Homage 10, 12, 31, 33-34, 40, 41,
75, 77
see also copying and fashion
Feels Like Home 43
“God Bless America” 77
Horyn, Cathy 33
Ferraro, Peter 36
Goddess Exhibit 34
Hush Puppies 36
Film 10, 13, 18, 19, 24, 29-34, 49, 51,
55, 56, 65, 73-75, 77
see also entertainment and
fashion and intellectual
property and music
Goethe 44
I
Gordon, Wendy 35
Imitation see copying
Grandmaster Flash 62
Imitation of Christ 36
Financial Times 40
Grey Album, 42, 49, 74, 77
Infinity Radio 60
Fivestarreplicas.com 38
Grey Video, 77
Folk music 77
Guardian, The 40
Ford, Tom 4, 11, 33, 74-78, 81, 102
Gucci 23, 33, 35, 58, 60, 74, 77
Friedman, Vanessa 40
H
Innovation, innovators 7, 10, 11, 13,
17, 20, 29-35, 37, 38, 40-43, 47-49,
51-53, 57, 58, 62, 65, 75, 77
in fashion 10, 11, 20, 30-32, 35,
37, 38, 40-43, 48, 49, 53, 58,
64, 75;
in music 13, 29, 47-49, 51-53, 62,
65, 75
Funkadelic 63
HBO 12, 74
“Future of Sharing: Content and
Creativity in the Digital Age, The”
75, 77
H&M 60, 61, 63
Fashion Institute of Design &
Merchandising/FIDM, The 7, 11, 73,
74, 76, 77, 79, 80
Distribution 12, 17, 24, 30, 53, 54,
58-61, 64, 74
Dali, Salvador 33, 40
Design, designers
see fashion design and designers and specific designers
Gil, Gilberto 59
“Fashioning the Future From the
Past” 75, 77
Duchamp, Marcel 34
Costumes 7, 21, 40, 48, 55, 74, 77
Hitchcock, Alfred 49
Fashion 7, 9-13, 17-27, 29-45, 47-69,
73, 75, 77, 88
and art 34, 35
branding of 11, 19, 23, 24,
32- 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 55, 58, 60,
74, 75;
and copying 9-11, 17, 23, 24, 29,
30-33, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 48, 49,
56, 64, 73, 75;
as creative model 9, 18, 24, 2943, 75;
and creativity 9-11, 24, 29-45,
47-69, 73, 75;
and digital culture and technology 29-45, 61, 63-64, 77;
design 9-11, 17-24;
designers 7, 9, 10, 17-19, 21, 22,
24;
economics of 9,10, 33, 53, 54,
56, 59-63;
and entertainment 11, 12, 73,
75, 77;
fast fashion 60
history of 10, 11, 50-53, 75, 77;
and homage 10, 12, 31, 33-34,
40, 41, 75, 77;
and innovation 10, 11, 20, 30-32,
35, 37, 38, 40-43, 48, 49, 53, 58,
64, 75;
and intellectual property 9, 10,
17-27, 57-59;
knockoffs 13, 16-18, 20, 22-24,
31, 37, 38, 41, 40, 55, 56, 64,
75, 77;
manufacturing and production
of 17, 21-23, 30, 37, 38, 43, 51,
53, 55, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64;
and music 47-69;
originality in 11, 16, 22, 24, 30,
33-35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 48, 64, 75,
77;
ownership of 11, 32-33, 47-69;
sales figures 30, 49, 61;
and sharing 9-13, 24, 31, 32, 35,
37, 41- 43, 75;
street 10, 12, 31, 33, 35-37, 42,
63, 64
see also apparel and specific
fashion companies, designers
and styles
Copyright Act 20
Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The 34, 40
Gibson, William 34
Dior, Christian 38, 55, 64
Coach 23
Commons 9, 10, 12, 17, 18, 32, 42,
51-54, 62-64
see also Creative Commons
Hip-hop 35, 36, 40, 51, 61
see also rap
F
Danger Mouse 9, 11, 42, 49, 74, 75,
77, 81
Cocteau, Jean 55
Ghesquière, Nicolas 40, 41, 48,
49, 63
Fashion Institute of Design &
Merchandising (FIDM) Museum,
The 7, 12, 75, 77, 80, 82
Digital Copyright: Protecting
Intellectual Property on the
Internet 17
End of Fashion: How Marketing
Changed the Clothing Business
Forever, The 32
Entertainment 7, 11, 12, 38, 47, 53,
55, 56, 59, 62, 73, 75, 77
and fashion 12, 53, 55, 56, 73,
75, 77
see also digital media
Fair use 57
Hall, Kevan 6, 8, 12, 46, 74, 75, 77,
81, 82
Inspiration 9, 34-38, 40, 42, 48, 64,
73, 75, 77
see also copying and homage
InStyle: “Steal This Look” 38
G
Halston 33, 34, 74
GNU (GNU’s Not UNIX) 42, 56, 58
Hamlet 51
Gallagher, Michael 35
Handbags 23, 24, 37, 41, 49, 64
Intellectual property 7, 9-13, 17-27,
29, 30, 32, 35, 37, 41-43, 47-49, 5459, 61, 63, 65, 73
see also law and fashion and
film and music
Gallagher’s Paper Collectibles 35
Harry Smith Archives 74
Gap, 17, 42, 55, 60
Haute couture 10, 17, 24, 31-34, 36,
38, 48, 53, 55, 60, 74, 75, 77
Internet 9, 10, 29, 31-32, 42, 43,
61-63
see also digital media and
digital technology
Gernreich, Rudy 48
Hermès 41, 64
Interview 35
“Get Off Your Ass and Jam” 63
Hindmarch, Anya 41
Invention 20, 21, 37, 52, 53, 57, 58,
75
Getty Research Institute 74
Hilfiger, Tommy 23, 33, 34, 41
Galliano, John 34
Euromonitor International 30
Izod 38
Hintmag.com 40, 48
page 105
Resources: Index
J
L
M
Moulin Rouge 34
Newton, James 63
JC Penney 60
LVMH 60
MP3 players 61
MoveOn.org 42
Nichols, Richard 11, 74-77, 83
J. Crew 55
L.A. Models 75
MTV 47, 60
Movies see film
Norman Lear Center, The 7, 9-11,
44, 73, 74, 79, 82-84, 101
Plagiarism 37, 38, 96
Jacobs, Marc 35
Lagerfeld, Karl 16, 33, 35, 61
Macy’s 38
Mozart 24
O
Poiret, Paul 34, 55
Jay-Z 9, 35, 43, 77
Lanham Act 23
“Madison Avenue: Where Fashion
Meets Art” exhibition 34
Music 9, 11-13, 18, 24, 29, 30, 43,
47-69, 73, 75, 77
digital music 61-63, 65;
distribution of 12, 53, 54, 59, 60,
62, 64;
economics of 12, 51, 54, 59-65;
and fashion 47-69;
history of 51-56;
innovation in 13, 29, 47, 48, 49,
51, 52, 53, 62, 65, 75;
and intellectual property 11,
56-59;
manufacturing and production
of 48, 51, 54, 59, 60, 65;
ownership of 11, 24, 29, 47-69,
75, 77;
sales figures 30, 43, 49, 54, 60;
sampling 11, 29, 75, 77;
and sharing 11, 24, 48, 53, 63, 77
see also musicians and specific music styles and music
producers
Oakland Museum of California 48
Porter, Charlie 40
Odyssey, The 50
Prada 38, 41
Phillips, Sam 11, 49, 74, 75, 77,
83, 84
Piracy see theft
Jazz 52
Jeans 22, 23, 35, 37, 42, 64
see also Levi’s
Jenkins, Jennifer 10, 25
Jones Apparel 60
Jones, Kevin 74, 75, 77, 82
Jones, Norah 43
Juicy Couture 60
Jupiter Research 11, 66
K
Lauren, Ralph 32-34, 38
Law 7, 9-13, 17-27, 29-45, 47-50, 5465, 73-75, 77
Copyright 9-11, 17-27, 29, 31-34,
41, 42, 47-49, 54, 56-58, 61, 6365, 74, 77;
Design patent 10, 19, 21, 22,
32, 56;
Mechanical reproduction 57,
61, 77;
Patent 18, 20- 22, 32, 56, 57, 58;
Sumptuary laws 50;
Trade dress 10, 19, 23, 24;
Trademark 10, 19, 22, 23;
Utility patent 21
see also intellectual property
and specific acts and cases of
legislation
Kaplan, Martin 74-76, 82
Manufacturing 17, 21-23, 30, 43, 51,
54, 55, 58-61
Mao suit 50
Marie Claire: “Splurge vs. Steal”
17, 38
Market 9-13, 17, 23, 24, 29-33, 36,
37, 38, 40-43, 48, 49, 52-54, 56,
58-60, 62, 65
control 10, 12, 29, 30;
fashion 10, 11, 17, 23, 24, 30-33,
36-38, 40-43, 48, 49, 58, 60;
music 48, 49, 52-54, 56, 58-60,
65
Marketing 24, 32, 34, 36, 47, 54,
59, 61, 65
Lawyers see attorneys
Karan, Donna 34, 58
Marks & Spencer 40
Lear, Norman 10, 12, 72, 74-77, 83
Karr, Rick 74-76, 82
Marseillaise, La 55
Leitch, Vincent B. 53
Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali 52
Mash-up 9, 11, 42, 47-49, 77
Lessig, Lawrence 63
Mazer v. Stein 19
Kieselstein-Cord v. Accessories
by Pearl 20
Levi Strauss, Claude 29
King, Michael Patrick 10, 12, 74, 75,
77, 82, 83
Levi’s
see jeans and Levi Strauss
Knockoffs 13, 16-18, 20, 22-24, 31,
37, 38, 41, 40, 55, 56, 64, 75, 77
see also copying and counterfeit
and fashion and handbags
Licensing 37, 47, 48, 57, 59, 62, 63,
65, 77
Musicians 9, 11, 35, 42, 47-49 51, 53,
59, 75, 77
see also artists and specific
musicians and music producers
Metropolitan Museum of Art, The
20, 34, 40
Prada, Miuccia 38
Online see Internet and digital
media
Preen 36
Recording industry see music
Schiaparelli, Elsa 34
Privatization 11, 32, 37
Recording Industry of America
(RIAA) 30, 59, 62
Schwartz, Allen B. 38
Open-source 41, 42
Proprietary 10, 31, 36, 41, 42
Originality 9-12, 16, 22, 24, 30,
33-35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 48, 59, 64,
75, 77
Oscars see Academy Awards
Kodály, Zoltán 52
Kool Herc 62
Logos 19, 32, 35, 37, 40, 41
Lollapalooza 47
Los Angeles Times 74, 76, 77, 83
Lucier, Alvin 61
Science, scientists 13, 18, 21, 42, 74
Records see albums
Producers 51, 53, 56, 58, 59, 62, 64,
75, 77
see also specific music and
television producers
Sean Jean 35, 36
Reed, Patrick 11, 101
Second Circuit 20, 21
Reggae 62
Production 23, 30, 37, 38, 43, 48,
53-55, 58, 60-65
Remixing see mixing
Shady, Ltd. 35
Renoir, Jean 55
Promotion see marketing
Ownership 7, 9, 11, 24, 29, 31-33,
36, 38, 41, 42, 47-69, 73, 75, 77
of fashion 11, 31-33, 38, 41, 42,
55, 73;
of music 11, 24, 29, 47-69, 75, 77
Shakespeare 24
Reproduction 38, 55, 57, 58
Public domain 7, 29, 59
see also Center for the Public
Domain
Pulitzer, Lilly 17
Research, researchers 7, 11, 13, 30,
36, 42, 50, 53, 74, 75
see also specific research firms
and researchers
Purses see handbags
Retail, Retailers 9, 23, 33, 55, 59-61
Q
Re-use 10, 18, 48, 75
Quaker State Motor Oil 37
Revenue see sales figures
R
Rich, Buddy 52
Racine, Laurie 7, 10, 44, 74-76, 84
Ringer, Barbara 57
Ralph, Sheryl Lee 74-77, 84
Roberts, Julia 38
Rap, rappers 35
see also hip-hop and specific
rappers and musicians
Rocawear 35
“Ready to Share: Creativity in
Fashion & Digital Culture” 10
Rogers, Millicent 4, 8, 12, 75
P
NASCAR 37
Patent 18, 20, 21, 22, 32, 56, 57, 58
see also design patent and utility patent
Performers 54, 59
Millinery Creators’ Guild v. FTC 56
Mixing 9, 18, 29, 47, 62, 64, 77
Moore, Booth 74-77, 83
Morphing see transformation
Shifting Gears 47, 48
Pavesi, Manuela 38
Millen, Karen 40
New York Times, The 11, 33, 35, 37,
38, 48, 74, 77
New York University 74, 77
Newport News 17
Shoes 22, 35, 36, 50, 77
Silver, Cameron 35, 49, 74-77, 84
Rodriguez, Narcisco 35
Perry, Lee “Scratch” 61
Phat Farm 35
Philbin, Regis 47
Sharing 9-13, 24, 29, 31, 32, 35, 37,
41-43, 48, 53, 57-59, 63, 73, 75, 77
in fashion 9-13, 24, 31, 32, 35,
37, 41- 43, 75;
in creativity 10, 13, 24, 32, 35,
41, 43, 57, 59, 75, 77;
in digital media and technology
and the Internet 41, 42, 58, 63;
in music 11, 24, 48, 53, 63, 77
see also commons and Creative Commons and GNU and
Ready to Share
Shaw, George Bernard 41
Pattern Recognition 34
Meyer, Leonard B. 51
Sampling 10, 11, 18, 29, 73, 75, 77
Sex and the City 12, 74, 75, 77
“Out on Top: The T-shirt, From
Fashion Essential to Revolutionary
Icon” 75, 77, 88
New Look 64
Koda, Harold 40
Salvation Army 77
Ogden, Jessica 36
Native Funk and Flash 48
Litman, Jessica 17, 24
Sales figures see fashion and film
and music
Recording artists
see artists and musicians
Narrative 9, 10, 12, 31, 32, 43
Lil’ Kim 35
Ready-to-wear 31, 38, 75
Recombination see transformation
N
N.W.A. 63
SFX 60
Saint Laurent, Yves 33, 38, 40, 60,
74
Parsons School of Design 53
Mechanical reproduction 57, 61, 77
S
“Ready to Share, Ready to Wear,
Ready or Not!” 75, 77
Parker, Charlie 52
McQueen, Alexander 33
Klein, Calvin 23, 58
“Music, Ownership & the Creative
Process” 49, 75, 77
29, 37, 41, 43, 46, 72, 73, 78, 88
conference 7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 46,
72, 73, 78, 88;
model 10-13, 29, 37, 41, 43
Simmons, Russell 35
“Ready to Share: Fashion & the
Ownership of Creativity” 9-13, 16,
Rolling Stone 48
Singers 11, 52, 74, 77
see also specific singers
Roots, The 11, 74, 76, 77
Singh, Rani 12, 74, 75, 84
page 107
Sinnreich, Aram 11, 66
Slimane, Hedi 35
Technology 7, 12, 21, 55, 56, 58, 59,
62, 64, 77
see also digital media and technology and fashion and music
Smith, Roberta 34
“So Sue Me” 41
Songs 47, 50-52, 54, 57, 59, 62, 63,
75, 77
see also specific songs
Television 10, 12, 19, 38, 42, 47, 56,
57, 60, 65, 73-75, 77
see also specific television
producers and writers
V
Wikipedia 42
VH1 60
Wilbekin, Emil 36
Vaidhynathan, Siva 54, 56, 63,
74-77, 85
Wilde, Oscar 77
Wired Magazine 47
Valentino 38
Wolfe, David 11, 74, 74-77, 85
Varvatos, John 35
Wolfe, Tom 40
Textiles 30, 48, 55, 60
Versace, Alfredo 23
Songwriters 9, 11, 54, 74, 77
see also specific songwriters
Theft 10, 17, 29, 37, 38, 40, 48, 49,
63-65, 77, 94
see also fashion and music
Source, The 36
Women’s Wear Daily 74
Versace, Donatella 36
Wong, Kaisik 40, 48, 49
Versace, Gianni 23, 35
Viacom 60
World Wide Web
see Internet
Vibe 36
Worth, Charles Frederick 55
Vintage clothing 10, 35, 38, 49,
75, 77
Worth, House of 55
Tonight or Never 55
Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri 35
Von Furstenberg, Diane 35, 38
Trade dress 10, 23, 24
Vuitton, Louis 23-24, 35, 58
Trademark 10, 22-24
W
Trademark Office 23
Wall Street Journal, The 32
Train Bleu, Le 55
Wal-Mart 23, 60
Supreme Court 19, 23
Transformation 9, 10, 13, 24, 29, 32,
40, 52, 75
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Samara
Brothers, Inc. 23
Z-Trip 47, 48
Surrealists 34
Trebay, Guy 11, 33, 35, 38, 74-77, 85
Walt Disney Company 47
Zara 60, 61, 63
Swanson, Gloria 55
Trench coat 37, 41
T
Tuva 52
Web sites
see Internet and specific Web
sites
TIME 77
Tuxedo gown 38
Weisser, Seth 35
T-shirt 75, 77, 88
U
Werde, Bill 48
Tahari, Ellie 60
USC Annenberg School for
Communication 7, 9, 74, 77
Westwood, Vivienne 33, 37
Theory 17
Southern, Eileen 53
Tobé Report 36
Spade, Kate 23
Toledo, Ruben 36
Stallman, Richard 58
Wrap dress 38
Star Trek 42
Stars see celebrity
Stealing see theft
Strauss, Levi 23, 36, 42
Sui, Anna 35
X
Xerox Corporation 74, 77, 80
Z
Sumptuary laws 50
Talking Heads 59
U.S. Census Bureau 30
Taplin, Jonathan 11, 49, 74, 75,
77, 85
Writers 12, 36, 77
see also authors and specific
television writers and writers
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
18
Taylor, Ann 23, 53, 55
What Goes Around Comes Around
35
Wheeler, Richard 53
White Album, 9, 43, 77
Ungaro 33
Taylor, Chris 59
Whitney Museum of Art 34
Utility patent 21